A Paris, de l’Imprimerie Nationale, An IV [1791].
Three parts bound in 1 volume 18mo of : vii pp., 196 pp., (4) ll., 219 pp., 1 folding chart, (2) ll., v pp., 324 pp. Full red morocco, triple gilt fillet around the covers, flat spine finely decorated with special tools, green morocco lettering-piece, inner gilt border, gilt edges. Contemporary binding.
127 x 75 mm.
First 18mo edition of the first French constitution.
“The first of our revolutionary charters” preserved in its fine contemporary red morocco binding.
“This first Constitution, whatever its imperfections, will nonetheless remain one of the most venerable political monuments in the history of mankind; firstly, because it was the most perfect social pact that had ever governed a people; secondly, because it opened up a new era, inaugurated the era of justice and freedom, and served as a kind of model; finally, because the principles it enshrined have successively penetrated the legislation of all peoples.
On 20 June 1789, in the forever memorable scene at the Jeu de Paume, the deputies of the Third Estate, threatened by all the factions of the old regime, solemnly swore to resist until death, and not to part until they had given France a constitution, in other words established order, common law and justice in place of anarchy, privilege and arbitrariness. This Constitution, or at least most of the principles on which it was to be based, was set out in the national notebook, in which the whole of the Revolution, moreover, was in its embryonic stage”.
The text entitled Lois relatives à la Constitution in two parts is bound in after.
A precious copy of this major text in the history of France, in very good condition, preserved in its elegant contemporary red morocco binding.
Provenance: ex-libris Michel and Jeannine Parisot and library of the Baron Duval de Fraville.
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