REVUE DES LECTURES. - A monthly periodical, begun in 1908 by the abbé Luigi Bethléem (1861-1940), as a publication accompanying his activity as a moral reviewer of French novels.
It was initially entitled Roman-Revue (1908-12), then Guide des lectures (1913-14); interrupted by the First World War, it resumed in 1920 under the new title R. des I. At the beginning of 1947, however, it merged with the similar periodical Cahiers des livres, appearing with the second issue of 1947 under the title Livres et lectures.
The purpose of this militant periodical was to cleanse the field of fiction and theatre, warning inexperienced or indifferent Catholics and at the same time drawing attention to whatever good, or at least acceptable, works were being published in this field. Gradually, the scope of its reviewing broadened, extending also to publications in theology, philosophy, civil and ecclesiastical history, hagiography, and asceticism, but above all to newspapers, reviews, and periodicals.