Starting with the fact that the concept of a scientific community is always dependent on or, at least, closely related to the different forms of communication available, I will try to examine this dependence at the birth of early modern science. Taking the example of the Nouvelles de la République des lettres, a monthly review edited by the outstanding Rotterdam philosopher Pierre Bayle, I will examine the relationships among three factors, the society of scientists, the self-representation of the same community in the articles of the Nouvelles, and the material conditions of the journal. As to the second point I'll argue that this self-representation is closely connected to a Cartesian epistemology and the Augustinian idea of a spiritual community called the City of God. In doing that I'd like to show that the traditional epistemological and spiritual connotations of this idea don't so much shape the project as are shaped by the material realisation of the Nouvelles.