The first presents the royal and princely households at the court of
Versailles, provides notices concerning the functions and benefits of
the offices and lists the officers and employees. The second section
provides an alphabetical list of the officers and employees, their
birth and death dates, and titles, followed by their lodging at the
court, their profits, pensions and fortunes as well as quotes from the
anecdotal literature. The information is based almost entirely on
archival and manuscript documentation.
William Ritchey Newton's scholarly work is based on research in the
Archives nationales de France and the Bibliotheque nationale de
France. It is concerned with the social and economic foundation of the
French court in the late 17th and the 18th century.