Belles-Lettres
BELLES-LETTRES (Fr. for "fine literature"), a term used to designate the more artistic and imaginative forms of literature, as poetry or romance, as opposed to more pedestrian and exact studies. The term appears to have been first used in English by Swift (1710).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
