chapter Dedication -- chapter Preface to the English edition -- part PART A: OVERVIEW -- chapter Chapter A.I: Some history -- chapter Chapter A.II: Modern classification of liquid crystals -- chapter Chapter A.III: Mesogenic anatomy -- part PART B: MESOPHASES WITH AN ORIENTATIONAL ORDER -- chapter Chapter B.I: Structure and dielectric properties of the nematic phase -- chapter Chapter B.II: Nematoelasticity: Frederiks transition and light scattering -- chapter Chapter B.III: Nematodynamics and flow instabilities -- chapter Chapter B.IV: Defects and textures in nematics -- chapter Chapter B.V: Anchoring and anchoring transitions of nematics on solid surfaces -- chapter Chapter B.VI: The nematic-isotropic liquid interface: static properties and directional growth instabilities -- chapter Chapter B.VII: Cholesterics: the first example of a frustrated mesophase -- chapter Chapter B.VIII: Blue Phases: a second example of a frustrated mesophase -- chapter Chapter B.IX: Overview of growth phenomena and the Mullins-Sekerka instability.