At last after about two years of searching I have been able to find a copy of this out of print book (from Liz Seeber), the bible of French cheeses by Patrick Rance.
It was recommended to me by Giana Ferguson of Gubbeen as a sine qua non of existance in France for any cheese lover.
I have barely started nibbling on it but have already discovered one interesting fact.
De Gaulle is said to have pronounced that it was impossible to govern a country which produced 324 different cheeses.
Rance tells us that he started out with a list of 500 addresses of different cheese makers in his pocket and eventually discovered 750 before he gave up.
De Gaulle was in fact way under.
I have never understood why he decided that cheese making was a subversive activity, and anyway if it is, let us celebrate our own renaissance of local cheeses.