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an old book with a pink cover sitting on top of a white surfacean old leather book with gold and black writing on itan open book with a title on it sitting on a tablean old book with writing on it sitting on a tablesomeone is holding a book with a list of things on itan old book with a list of things on itan open book with a picture of a building in the backgroundan old book with writing on it that is very oldan open book with a picture of a clock on itan old book with a black and white text on itan old book that has been torn open on a white background
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265 - [RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE (Nicolas-Edme)]. *Le Thesmographe*, o…
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Estimate €400 - €500
Sale commission
Description
[RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE (Nicolas-Edme)]. *Le Thesmographe*, or *Reflections of an Honest Man on a Draft Regulation Proposed to All the Nations of Europe for the Purpose of a General Reform of the Laws*. The social, political and reformist thinking of a lucid and visionary Restif de la Bretonne. The Hague, Gosse-Junior & Changuion; Paris, Maradan, 1789. Two parts in continuous pagination in one in-8 volume (200 x 130 mm), contemporary marbled and glazed half-havana calfskin, green vellum corners, ribbed spine decorated with a black morocco patch and floral panels with small gilt ironwork. 590 pages, plus 1 folio of the publisher’s catalogue. Spine slightly cracked, two tiny fragments missing from the top cap. Slight water-stain at the corners of the first five leaves and in the margins of a few very rare pages. Some signs of handling, otherwise a fresh and clean copy. First edition of the final and rarest volume in the ‘Idées singulières’ series, comprising essays and proposals for social reform written by Restif de la Bretonne between the late 1760s and the late 1780s. Begun in November 1788 and completed after the Revolution in late 1789, the work opens with an address to the Estates-General. It contains a presentation of the political and social reform proposals drawn up by Restif: civil and criminal legislation (including a proposal for European unification), divorce, urban planning and policing, reform of property rights and abuses thereof, a study of the laws of various peoples across the four continents, political economy and finance, prostitution, begging and welfare, colonisation and slavery, an interesting proposal for workers’ cooperatives, etc. The second part includes, amongst other things, two comedies: ‘Le Bouledogue’ and ‘L’an deux-mille’. A fine copy, well preserved in its original binding.
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About the sale Fine antique and collectible books, manuscripts and modern illustrated works
Auction location
Auction time 06/29/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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