It has been my general desire for a few years to acquire the basics in other European languages for the purpose of reading some of the classics in their original language, in a similar vein to [this topic][1]. I never pursued a whole lot, and so my knowledge of exactly what those classics might be for a particular language never developed very far. In anticipation for a trip to Lyon this summer I have begun to learn a little French, and would be very interested in reading some of the more palatable (in the sense of a reader who is fairly naive to the language) French texts. My first instincts would be Cauchy and Lebesgue, seeing as I am more analytically inclined, but I have no idea where to start or which of their works are readily available.


  [1]: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/28268/do-you-read-the-masters