ANQUETIL (Louis-Pierre)

Louis XIV, sa Cour et le Regent.

A Paris, Chez Moutard..., 1789. FIRST EDITION. 4 volumes. 12mo, pp. lii, 336 [337 Errata, 338 blank]; viii, 406 [407 Errata, 408 blank]; viii, 430; viii, 415 [416 - 417 Approbation, 418 Errata], including half-title in each volume, recently rebound in fair half calf, marbled boards, spines blocked in gilt, original book label of the fourth Duke of Marlborough preserved on front paste-down end-paper of each volume. A very good set. Anquetil (1723 - 1806) became prior of the abbey of La Roee, in Anjou, in 1759 and soon after was appointed director of the college of Senlis, where he taught history and theology. He published this work just on the eve of the French Revolution (the Approbation is dated 30 September 1788) and was imprisoned during the Terror for his troubles.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 5860

Catalogue: France

Keywords: France History prose

BURKE (Edmund):

A Letter from Mr. Burke, To a member of the National Assembly; in Answer to some Objections to his Book on French Affairs.

Paris, Printed, Dublin reprinted by William Porter, For Burnet [and 18 others], 1791. 8vo (in 4s), pp. [iv], 60, including half-title; fore-margin of half-title slightly frayed and with short tear, slight browning. Todd 54i.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 5182

Catalogue: France

Keywords: France politics prose

CALONNE (Charles Alexandre de):

L'Etat de la France, présent & a venir.

A Londres: De l'Imprimerie de T. Spilsbury & Fils, October 1790. Large 8vo, 225 x 142 mms., pp. [ii], xvi, 96, 81 - 96, 97 - 126, 119 -126, 127 - 151, 154 - 440, Errata on page [442],original boards, uncut; some marginal worming in latter half of book, slight nicks to front joint, corners a little crushed but a fine copy of a book in its original condition as issued, with the armorial bookplate of Lord Walsingham (Thomas de Grey, second Baron Walsingham [1748–1818]), on the front paste-down end-paper. ESTC lists 12 separate issues or editions for 1790. This is T91446.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 6333

Catalogue: France

Keywords: France revolution prose

MACKINTOSH (James):

Vindiciæ Gallicæ. Defence of the French Revolution and its English Admirers, against the Accusations of The Right Hon. Edmund Burke; Including some Strictures on the late Production of Mons. De Calonne. The Second Edition Corrected.

London: Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson..., 1791. 8vo, pp. [iv], 351 [352], disbound; very small piece torn from corner of title-page and advertisement leaf (no loss), ex-library.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 4952

Catalogue: France

Keywords: France revolution prose

THIERS (Louis Adolphe):

The History of the French Revolution. Translated, With Notes and Illustrations from the Most Authentic Sources.

London: Richard Bentley..., 1838. FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION. 5 volumes. 8vo, pp. xvi, xvi, 384; [ii], 391 [392 printer's imprint]; [ii], 480; [ii], 526; [ii], 469 [470 blank], 10 engraved plates in volume 1, 9 engraved plates in volume 2, 10 engraved plates in volume 3, 6 engraved plates in volume 4, 6 engraved plates in volume 5, including frontispiece in each volume, for a total of 41 plates, contemporary half calf, marbled boards (rubbed), morocco labels; joints cracked but reasonably firm.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 3892

Catalogue: France

Keywords: France history prose

[YOUNG (Arthur):

Letters Concerning the Present State of the French Nation. Containing a Comprehensive View of the Political State, Agriculture, Trade and Commerce, Revenues, Military Power, Government, Ranks of the People, Manners, Laws, Fine Arts and Artists, Theatre, Literature and Writers: With a complete Comparison between France and Great Britain....

London: Printed for W. Nicoll, No 51, St. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCCLXIX. [1769]. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 200 x 124 mms., pp. iv [v - xviii, xiv blank], 498, contemporary sheepskin; top and base of spine slightly chipped, corners worn, both joints slightly cracked (but firm), a fair to middling copy. The ESTC does not offer an attribution for Letters Concerning the Present State of the French Nation, but William Cushing, in Anonyms: A Dictionary of Revealed Authorship (1889), says it was written by Arthur Young (1741-1820), agriculturalist and travel writer (p. 372). Letters Concerning the Present State of the French Nation was certainly listed as one of the earliest published works by Arthur Young in the "Bibliography of Arthur Young", prepared by "John P. Anderson, of the British Museum", in Arthur Wollaston Hutton's edition of Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland (1892) (pp. 349, 361). In 1900, Henry Higgs in the DNB duly followed suit in attributing the Letters to Young. Young's book was controversial to say the least, and alarmed The Critical Review, which claimed that "this author's partiality to France is, we think, too glaring to impose upon the most ignorant reader. If he is not a mere tool of that government, and employed by them in this publication, we must be of the opinion that he is a very injudicious writer, because, as we have hinted in the beginning of this article, his labours must have a very disagreeable effect upon the public credit of England" (pp. 434-440). John Gerow Gazley, in his 1973 biography of Young, calls the Letters a "much more pretentious volume" (Life of Arthur Young, p. 47). The Letters are notable also for their zealous defence of Rousseau.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 10237

Catalogue: France

Keywords: France economics prose