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Description
PÉTION, Jérôme.
Works.
Paris: Garnery, Year I [II] of the Republic [1793]. — 4 volumes in-8, 196 x 119: vij, 399 pp.; (2 ff.), 435 pp.; (2 ff.), 436 pp.; (2 ff.), 415, iv pp. Speckled tan sheepskin, decorated ribbed spine, blue edges (contemporary binding).
First collected edition of the political and economic writings of Jérôme Pétion (1756–1794).
A lawyer by training, Jérôme Pétion was a leading figure of the French Revolution: a deputy for the Third Estate at the Estates General (1789), first president of the National Convention (1792), and mayor of Paris (1791, suspended on 6 July 1792). He also made his mark on history as one of the presidents of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks, founded on 19 February 1788 by Jacques-Pierre Brissot, Étienne Clavière and Abbé Grégoire.
This association campaigned for equality between whites and blacks, the immediate ban on the slave trade and the gradual abolition of slavery. Its members sought to reconcile two objectives: maintaining the French colonial economy whilst preparing slaves for freedom through education, which was deemed necessary prior to their emancipation. Among its successive presidents (who did not serve consecutive terms) were, in addition to Pétion, Jacques Pierre Brissot, Étienne Clavière and Condorcet.
It is in Volume III of this edition that one finds the famous ‘Discourse on the Slave Trade’, first published in 1790, and the ‘Discourse on the Unrest in Saint-Domingue’.
Two headpieces missing; normal wear and tear. Foxing.
Provenance:
Signed ‘Henricy Falkman Junior’ on the endpapers.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
Claude Mozis Library – Black Africa and the African diaspora
Auction location
Auction time
10/21/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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