Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

(The Beginning of the French Revolution) Le Courrier d'Avignon, No.58, Mercredi 22, Juillet 1789 (Wednesday July 22, 1789) [FIRST PUBLISHED FRENCH UNCENSORED ACCOUNT OF THE STORMING OF THE BASTILLE] [WITH] La Bastille (Histoire Generale de Paris)

Aubanel, Antoine (ed.)

Avignon: 1789. First edition. Loose leaf. Quarto. 9.5 x7.5". 237-240pp. [+ added supplement, two sided leaf]. Text printed in black in a two-column format, with woodcut headpiece/decorative border surrounding the title at the top of the first page. Pages uncut, printed on rag paper.

This remarkable document, an issue of the 18th century biweekly newspaper Le Courrier d'Avignon, was published just eight days after the storming of the Bastille (July 14th, 1789) and consists of the first uncensored journalistic account of the those events, the preceeding civil unrest, and the upheavals throughout the following week. These events are now seen to have marked the beginning of the French Revolution. A two-sided supplement leaf to issue #58 giving further details of the events, is also included.

Do to the fact that Avignon was at this time still a Papal enclave, not under control of the French monarchy, the press there was not under same censorship to which all other French press at the time was subject ("privilege with permission"), allowing the accounts of these events to be given in unadulterated direct detail. Pages 239-240 relate in gruesome detail, the events of July 14th, including the taking of the Bastille, the hanging and beheading of its commander Monsieur Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay, and the lynching and beheading of Jacques de Flesselles, the last provost of the merchants of Paris (equivalent to mayor). These were the first two prominent casualties of the Revolution.

Of noteworthy importance is the information published on page 238, that the Marquis de Lafayette is working on the drafting of a "Declaration des Droits Naturels de l'Homme vivant en Societe," which text will be adopted on August 26, and will be universally known as the "Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen."

Text in French.

In very good condition overall.

[WITH]

Bournon, Fernand. La Bastille. Histoire et description des bâtiments - Administration - Régime de la prison - Événements historiques (Histoire Generale de Paris). Paris,1893. Folio. (xiv) [1] 364pp. [+ 12 interleaved plates]. Blind-stamped green pebbled buckram boards with gilt tooling on the front cover, gilt lettering and blind-stamped ruling on the spine. Pages uncut and un-opened. A beautifully produced book documenting all aspects of the history of the Bastille prison in comprehensive detail. Contains a total of 12 finely printed illustrated gravure plates in b/w. These include multiple historical and detailed maps of the prison and its surroundings, facsimile reproductions of various historical documents, including of a letter from Monsieur Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay, commander of the Bastille from October 1776 – 14 July 1789, and images of some related historical artifacts. Includes an extensive alphabetical index at the back of the book. The book appears to have never been read. Binding with some minor rubbing to extremities, including along the front hinge of the spine. Head of spine slightly bumped with a closed tear. Book block tight. Binding in very good condition, interior in very good+ to near fine condition overall. Item #47645

*The "Courrier d'Avignon" was published from 1733 to 1793 with two breaks, the first between July 1768 and August 1769 due to Avignon's annexation by France, and the second between November 30, 1790, and May 24, 1791.

Price: $9,500.00