Lot of 3 Pamphlets and a book. Politics - French Revolution.
1. Discours de M. Le Garde des Sceaux à l'Assemblée Nationale, le 7 Août 1789.
Versailles, de l'Imprimerie Royale, 1789
4to; 260x210 mm. Pp. 6, 2 blank. Woodcut headpiece. Very small woodhole running through pages. Good copy.
Rare pamphlet that forms part of those decrees addressed to the National Assembly of 1789 in which the King's Keeper of the Seals mainly addressed the question of royal sanction of decrees that marked the end of privileges and class distinctions.
In 1789 France was in the midst of the Revolution and the Assemblée Nationale Constituante was drafting a new Constitution. At that time, the Keeper of the Seals was the Minister of Justice and the King's Keeper of the Seals. He thus played an important role in the relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government.
2. Loi Relative au desséchement des Marais. Donnée à Paris, le 5 Janvier 1791.
Paris, de l'Imprimerie Royale, 1791
4to; 275x215 mm. Pp. 10, 2 blank. Woodcut headpiece. Good uncut copy with wide margins.
Rare pamphlet dealing with the upkeep of Le Marais (French for “marsh”), one of the neighborhoods of Paris located on the right bank of the Seine. The National Assembly saw fit to drain and clean up the marshy, fragile and uncultivated land that was frequently flooded by the Seine. The reclamation would bring useful land to the general good for private individuals or communities in whose area these lands would be used for commercial or agricultural purposes.
3. MIACZINSKY, Jozef. Request for direct compensation to the National Assembly.
S.d.
4to; 250x195 mm. Pp. 3, 1 blank. Woodcut headpiece. Handwritten supplement in black ink. Good copy.
Very rare pamphlet on the Polish-Lithuanian general's claim for reparations and cancellation of debts.
Józef Miaczynski (1743/1751-1793) who joined the French Army of the North on July 25, 1792, the day the Brunswick Manifesto was published. He supported General Dumouriez, defending France against the Prussian and Austrian armies, occupying the Austrian Netherlands and the Duchy of Limburg.
After Dumouriez was dismissed from the High Command, Miaczinski agreed to participate in the preparation of a military coup against the National Convention. In early April 1793, Miaczinski was arrested, charged with criminal and counterrevolutionary activities, tried, and executed.
"J'ai défendu la cause, de la liberté en Pologne à la tête des armées de la confédération. Depuis 1768, jusqu'en 1772, j'ai sacrifié pour les intérêts de la France & avoué par, elle, toute ma fortune, & celle d'une partie de ma famille."
4. Ouvrage d'un citoyen, gentilhomme et militaire, ou lettres sur la noblesse.
In Londres, 1787
8vo; 215x145 mm. Marbled cardboard binding. Pp. 185. Defects to binding. First 4 leaves with waterstain. Fair copy.
First edition. This work, published in 1787, is an important document of the pre-Revolutionary period, evidence of the social and political tensions that preceded the French Revolution.
Addresses the issue of nobility, examines its origins, its rights, the abuses it commits and how to remedy them. The author, who presented himself as a citizen, gentleman and soldier, criticized the nobility of his time and proposed solutions for reform.