Through an analysis of the composition of the personal library of Maurice Duplessis, Quebec’s Premier (1936–1939; 1944–1959), this study showcases relations between literary and political fields in Quebec during the first half of the twentieth century. If this library bears witness to the tastes of a conservative bourgeois, it also allows us to understand that the literary institution was not necessarily built in opposition or against Duplessis and his government. The literary choices of Maurice Duplessis reveal tensions between modernity and tradition, mirroring, in a way, the very ideology of his government.