The Turgenev Library was opened in Paris in 1875 thanks to the initiative of the Russian political figure Herman Lopatin. Ivan Turgenev donated funds for the creation of the library, and in 1883, after his death, the reading room was named after the writer. The foundation of the library consisted of Turgenev's personal books, and later the collections were constantly replenished. By 1937, they numbered about 100,000 volumes, including "The Judicial Code of His Majesty Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich" with notes by Vasily Tatishchev, published in 1768, as well as first editions of Voltaire, Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Nikolai Karamzin, and other authors.

In 1940, after the occupation of Paris, the reading room was closed, and its collections were taken away in an unknown direction, and their fate remains unknown to this day. In 1959, the Turgenev Library reopened. The basis of its collection consisted of the remaining part of Alexander Herzen's library, Vasily Maklakov's library, as well as Russian books returned to France after being taken by the Germans during the war. Today, the library's collections number about 40,000 volumes.