This is the first volume of a two volume set which explores the profound impact of the French language and culture on Russian high society and consciousness in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Volume 1 provides insights into the development of the practice of speaking and writing French at the Russian court and among the Russian nobility from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, after which the circle of Russians who continued to use French in Russia was narrower. In the process, readers will be introduced to a wide range of types of text. They will also encounter examples of the impact of the French language on Russian and will reflect on the practice of code-switching and the distinction between bilingualism and diglossia.