In 1886, despite major urban planning, Baron Haussmann's new Paris still coexists with the ancient capital of previous centuries.

The city is an anthill. It's the Belle Epoque, small trades develop and allow everyone to exercise their talent. The Third Republic is industrious. Everything is produced on site or almost. Department stores exist but are rare and expensive, reserved for a bourgeois elite. Paris is overpopulated, and even more so its suburb s: it's necessary to feed, to house, to clean, to clothe, to heal, to amuse all this common people

More than 112 000 small manufacturers, tradesmen, craftsmen, specialists tackle it. An official directory allows everyone to find their way among this small world of bakers, grocers, wine merchants, tailors, florists, hairdressers, butchers, footwear, laundry, doctors.

• Official directory of manufacturers in Paris in 1886.

Nominative directory of 112,000 artisans, tradesmen, liberal professions and small industrialists officiating in Paris in 1886.