Florimond Rapine - Recueil très-exact de l’Assemblée des États de 1614 [Derniers avant la Révolution] Histoire - 1651

Author: Florimond RAPINE (Sieur de Foucheraine)

Complete title: Very accurate and curious collection of all that has been done and passed as singular and memorable at the General Assembly of the States held in Paris in the year 1614.

Publisher: Paris, 'Au Palais' (Collective printing: Antoine de Sommaville, Augustin Courbé, etc.)

Year of publication: 1651 (collective original edition)

Binding: Full brown calf from the period, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt panels, red edges.

Format: 17.5 x 22.5 cm

About the work:

A fundamental work on the political history of France. It meticulously documents the Estates General of 1614, which were historically the last convened by the monarchy before those of 1789 that triggered the French Revolution.

This collection, written by a direct witness (Rapine was a deputy of the Third Estate), offers an 'inside view' of the political tensions during the regency of Marie de Médicis and the early reign of Louis XIII.

The specimen contains all the major parts.

The heated debates between the Nobility, the Clergy, and the Third Estate.

• Famous speeches (Miron, Savaron).

The General Notebook of the Third Estate (grievances).

The rare 'Treatise on the Revenue and Expenditure of France's Finances' (p. 525), a valuable economic analysis of the Ancien Régime.

Dedication to Mathieu Molé, Keeper of the Seals.

Status report

A solid and authentic specimen in its original 17th-century condition.

Exterior: Antique binding in calf leather. The spine is decorated but shows signs of use: the upper cap is worn down (missing), exposing the headband. There are epidermal cracks on the leather, rounded corners, and some wormholes on the spine. The structure remains solid.

Interior: Good overall condition. Sound paper, very legible text. Presence of scattered and natural foxing for the period. Red edges well preserved. Endpapers in marbled paper.

A major historical piece, essential for any library dedicated to parliamentary history, the Ancien Régime, or the history of law.