The Comite du Librairie of the Academie Royale des Science in Paris and its influence on modern scientific refereeing are examined in this monograph. James McClellan investigates the development and growth of the Comite du Librairie in the late eighteenth century, and its influence in establishing international norms for processing, modifying, and authorizing books and papers for publication. Pointing out that historians of the Academie Royale des Science have known about the Comite de Librairie and had logged the existence of its registers, but no one had studies them in detail, he presents a comprehensive and authoritative history of the Comite.