Aux Manes de Louis XV, et des grands hommes qui ont vécu sous son règne, ou Essai sur les progrès des arts et de l'esprit humain, sous le règne de Louis XV.
[Zweibrucken:]: Aux Deux Ponts: à l'Imprimerie Ducale, 1776. First edition. Light wear to binding extremities, some intermittent browning, lower corner of A2 of the second volume torn, with loss of a few letters. A good, wide-margined copy. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt spine with black leather, gilt triple-rule borders on covers, marbled edges. Two volumes in one, octavo. xvi, 248; [2], 186 pp. Item #13456
This uncommon work was printed at the celebrated Imprimerie Ducale de Deux-Ponts after the author was denied the right to publish it in France. Gudin de la Brenellerie (1738-1812), poet, dramatist and historian, was educated in Geneva, and was acquainted with Voltaire and Beaumarchais, and he edited the works of the latter author. He wrote a supplement to Rousseau’s Social Contract (1790), in which he discusses the political and social repercussions of the French Revolution and asserted that private property and ownership are the basis of a healthy society. The present work is a discussion of the important intellectual accomplishments during the reign of Louis XV, focusing on the principal scientific discoveries, on the voyages of Bougainville and others, and on the economics and politics of the period. There are many references to America and the colonial trade in Santo Domingo, Louisiana, Canada, etc.
Cioranescu 32828. Quérard, III, 496.
Price: $850.00