Ferdinand Denis soon became a literary figure and writer who was fully integrated in Parisian intellectual life and the book publishing world. He collaborated on literary journals and their respective editorial projects, generally encyclopaedias or literary anthologies, some of which were dedicated to the Iberian Peninsula (for example, La Péninsule: tableau pittoresque de l'Espagne et Portugal). His name appears among the various well-known collaborators on this publication like the Duchess of Abrantes, Laborde, Nodier, Bory de Saint-Vicent, Merimée, Vigny, Dumas and Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira (Visconde de Santarém, Inéditos.., 1914, p. 72). He does not appear to have had any other profession or way of earning a living until very late in life. In 1833 he contributed to the specialised collection Chefs d'Oeuvres Étrangers... traduits en Français with a volume dedicated to some Portuguese playwrights and then in 1837 he did the same for the L'Univers Pittoresque collection with a volume dedicated to Brazil. At the start of the following decade he was given the task of redrafting the volume on Portugal. It should be remembered that in the German-speaking world it was Schaefer who was responsible for the volumes dedicated to Portugal and Spain in a series on the history of European states.

In 1838 he was appointed librarian of the Sainte-Geneviève Library in Paris and three years later he was made curator, which was a significant professional change for him. He continued with his work as a document researcher and in 1837 reported the existence of Gomes Eanes de Zurara’s manuscript Crónica da conquista da Guiné in the Royal Library of Paris. Two years later he also became the librarian at the Ministry of Public Instruction.

Publication of his two-volume Chroniques chevaleresques de l'Espagne et du Portugal… in 1839 had an unexpected impact on the historical studies and literature dedicated to Portugal and its cultural reality. This work is an anthology of original medieval and Renaissance sources of chronicles and dramas in the Romantic style, like those of Alexandre Herculano, Almeida Garrett and Castilho. Like Schaefer with his Geschichte von Portugal (1836-39), Denis sought to call Europe’s attention to Portugal’s rich institutional, political and diplomatic history. He succeeded in showing that there was an extremely rich body of literature in the Iberian Peninsula capable of quenching Europe’s thirst for strong emotions and authentic narratives. He writes in the introduction to the work: “S'il est en effet une source nouvelle d'émotions ardentes, de sensations inattendues, de révélations curieuses, c'est dans les vieilles chroniques de la Péninsule qu'il faut aller les chercher. On parle sans cesse de ces livres à demi oubliés, on les cite chaque jour, on va même jusqu'à les admirer sur parole; on ne les connait pas” (Chroniques chevaleresques de l'Espagne et du Portugal…, I, 1839, p. I).

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