Jean Louis de Lolme - The constitution of England - 1796

Bel exemplaire de cette nouvelle édition " corrected " de la traduction du plus célèbre des travaux de Jean Louis Delolme sur le Constitution de l'Angleterre, ouvrage paru en français à Amsterdam en 1771 et traduit en anglais pour la première fois en 1775.

Orné de son portrait gravé en frontispice.

Etabli dans une luxueuse reliure de l'époque en veau flammé glacé, dos lisse orné d'une pièce en maroquin mosaïquée et un élégant décor de caissons garnis aux petits fers dorés, belle dentelle d'enc. sur les plats.

Très bel exemplaire, reliure décorative malgré la coiffe de tête arasée et le départ de petites fentes en tête des deux mors ( voir photos). 3 coins émoussés. Intérieur frais et propre, dans la marge de plusieurs feuillets claire trace de mouillure, sans atteinte au texte.

AUTEUR : Jean Louis de Lolme
TITRE: The constitution of England or, an account of the English government; In which it is compared, both with the Republican Form of Government, and the other Monarchies in Europe. By J. L. de Lolme, Advocate, Member of the Council of the Two Hundred in the Republic of Geneva.
EDITEUR: London printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster-Row; J. Stockdale, Piccadilly; and Murray and Highley, Fleet-Street 1796, Vol. in-8 de 21x14 de ([8],xvi,522,[18]p



THEME:

During his protracted exile in England, De Lolme made a careful study of the English constitution, the results of which he published in his Constitution de l'Angleterre (The Constitution of England, Amsterdam, 1771),[2][4] of which an enlarged and improved edition in English appeared in 1775,[2][5] and was several times reprinted. The work excited much interest as containing many acute observations on the causes of the excellence of the English constitution as compared with those of other countries.

In the book, de Lolme advocated a constitutional form of government enshrining the principle of balanced government, balancing the one, the few, and the many, or the ideas of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. He criticised the power of the British parliament and coined an expression which became proverbial: "parliament can do everything but make a woman a man and a man a woman". Nonetheless, de Lolme extolled the British government because, in his view, which was influenced by his own observations and study as well as by the previous writings of Voltaire and Montesquieu, the unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom embodied the ideal of balanced government better than any other government of the time. In particular, he praised the element of representative democracy in the constitution, and urged an extension of suffrage. De Lolme developed and refined his political thinking to a large extent in opposition to the more radical theory of direct democracy advocated by his compatriot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whom he accused of being unrealistic. De Lolme is sometimes identified as a probable candidate for being the person behind the pseudonymous political commentator Junius. ( Wikipédia)