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179 - [LE TROSNE (Guillaume-François)]. On Provincial Administrati…
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Estimate €400 - €500
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Description
[LE TROSNE (Guillaume-François)]. On Provincial Administration and Tax Reform. The extremely rare first edition of this treatise on the economic reforms of the late Ancien Régime, condemned upon its publication. Basel, n.p., 1779. Quarto, contemporary taupe-coloured cardboard binding with blind-stamped raised bands. X - 661 pp. Scuffing to the binding, some foxing and annotations in graphite or coloured pencil, and slight water-stain on the margins of pp. 643 to the end; pen annotations opposite the title page. Extremely rare first edition of this treatise on law and public finance, condemned upon its publication and seized due to the administrative and economic reforms proposed therein, which were unacceptable to the high clergy of the time. In 1775, the Academy of Toulouse invited publicists to study the plan formulated in the mid-18th century by the Marquis de Mirabeau to improve the Kingdom’s financial situation: the creation of provincial administrations. Guillaume-François Le Trosne (1726–1780), a liberal economist close to the Enlightenment, responded with this lengthy polemical study in which he advocated nothing less than the abolition of feudalism and the subjection of the nobility and the clergy to national taxation, a proposal that Turgot had put forward unsuccessfully as early as 1777. He concludes his work with a "Dissertation on Feudalism" (pp. 617–650). He also addresses politics by advocating the creation of elected provincial administrations, in order to engage local communities in public affairs (Paul Bastide, 1978). The Marquis de Miromesnil, Keeper of the Seals at the start of Louis XVI’s reign, had this publication seized in 1780 so as not to displease the French high clergy, despite the author’s closeness to Necker, which makes this edition far rarer than the second one of 1788. In his work on the author, Jérôme Mille even states: “It is the only practical work of the physiocratic school, and one might say, its final word [...] This powerful study is the finest picture we possess of the finances of the Ancien Régime”. A very rare volume in good condition, fundamental both to the history of the Ancien Régime and to the origins of the modern era. Sources: - MILLE, Jérôme. Un physiocrate oublié, G.-F. Le Trosne, 1905. - COQUELIN, Charles. Dictionnaire de l’économie politique, 1864. - BASTID, Paul. Sieyès et sa pensée, 1978.
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About the sale Fine antique and collectible books, manuscripts and modern illustrated works
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Auction time 06/29/2026 at 2:00 PM
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