Jacques Necker - Sur l'administration de M. Necker - 1791

Jacques Necker. On the administration by Mr. Necker. Paris, Hôtel de Thou, 1791, 480 pp.

One volume small octavo (200x120 mm), half calf, spine with raised bands, title piece of black morocco, red edges (binding of the period). Wear and rubbing on the boards, paper loss on the first board, very light moisture stains varying by page on the lower part. Interior fresh, without foxing.

Original edition

Necker offers a detailed justification of his ministerial action and a defense of his reforms implemented during his two terms as Controller-General of Finances between 1777 and 1789.

The author outlines the measures he took to restore the kingdom’s finances, notably by publishing for the first time the Account of the revenues and expenditures of the State in 1781—a novel initiative in an absolute monarchy where public accounts were traditionally kept secret.

He also details the creation of provincial assemblies designed to modernize local administration and to involve more actively the regional elites in the management of public affairs.

Necker also discusses the difficulties encountered with the court and the privileged classes, as well as the circumstances of his dismissal in 1781 and then in 1789, events that contributed to the worsening of the financial and political crisis of the monarchy.