Ernest Hamel - Histoire de Saint-Just - 1859

History of Saint-Just
Deputy to the National Convention
by Ernest Hamel
with a portrait of Saint-Just after the pastel belonging to Mr. Philippe Le Bas, member of the Institute, and a portrait of the Convention member Philippe Le Bas after a sketch by Louis David, both engraved by Flameng
Paris Poulet-Malassis et de Broise
booksellers-editors
1859
Rare first original edition of 1859 of the major work by Ernest Hamel devoted to Saint-Just, a major figure of the French Revolution and deputy to the National Convention.
The work retraces the life of Saint-Just, his political and revolutionary career, his positions, his missions, his role with the Committee of Public Safety and the events that led him to the fall of Robespierre and to 9 Thermidor.
Hamel also concerns himself with Saint-Just’s relationships with the principal actors of the Revolution and recounts many political and military episodes of that period.
ae of imperial censorship
This original 1859 edition is particularly sought after because of its publication history.
The work, politically troublesome under the Second Empire due to the republican and democratic ideas defended by Ernest Hamel, was seized by the authorities and then shredded.
The publisher Poulet-Malassis was also fined 100 francs.
This intervention explains the great rarity of copies of the original Paris edition of 1859.
A reprint appeared later in Brussels in 1860, much more commonly encountered today.
illustrations
The work includes the two portraits off the text announced in the title:
Saint-Just, after the pastel belonging to Philippe Le Bas;
Philippe Le Bas, the Convention member, after a sketch by Louis David;
the two portraits are engraved by Flameng.

628 pages, 23.5 × 16 cm roughly
two off-text portraits,
demi-grain leather binding, red spine adorned, with gold title
complete work.
Binding with some rubbing and signs of time.
The spine nevertheless retains its decoration and its gold title, giving the work an elegant presentation.
Interior well preserved, clean pages.
The two off-text portraits should be kept carefully in good condition.

Shipped with well protected packaging
Delivered against signature