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an old book with a brown cover sitting on top of a white surfacean old book with writing on it sitting open on a white surfacean old book with a drawing of a man in armor
Gros & Delettrez

26 - CASTEL de SAINT-PIERRE, Ch.-Irénée, Abbot of.
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Estimate €200 - €300
Sale commission
Description
CASTEL de SAINT-PIERRE, Ch.-Irénée, Abbot of. Draft treaty for the establishment of perpetual peace amongst Christian sovereigns.... Utrecht: Antoine Schouten, 1717. Large 12mo (16 x 9.5 cm), XXXIV-(10)-170 pp., followed by pp. (26)-198-455-(4), 3 plates (out of 4). Contemporary marbled tan sheepskin, ribbed spine, red title labels, gilt title, ornate panels, gilt roulette on the edges, speckled edges (binding slightly rubbed and blackened, water stains and foxing, particularly on the first and last quires, cap worn away, joints slightly weakened). Published by Antoine Schouten, this is the famous work by Abbé Castel de Saint-Pierre, detailing the early 18th-century project for one of the first proposals for a European union. Including the second part, as indicated in the pagination: ‘The Interest of Each Sovereign in Particular in Signing a Treaty of Lasting Peace and Permanent Arbitration’. Part Two. Illustrated with three portraits engraved in black on copper: Philippe, Duke of Orléans, the Regent (to whom the work is dedicated), after Santerre in 1712; Henry IV; and the Duke of Sully, engraved by Scotin. In 1712, Saint-Pierre was a member of the French delegation at the Utrecht negotiations to bring an end to the War of the Spanish Succession. Inspired by this experience, by Hobbes and the Swiss-German confederal models, and in opposition to the warmongering of Louis XIV, his plan for lasting peace was based on a supranational authority tasked with preventing conflicts and arbitrating disputes, thus foreshadowing the idea of a European Union, for which he proposed Utrecht as the seat. Only the BnF holds copies of this work in the CCFr. Modern handwritten bookplate on the upper endpaper. In French in the text, 137.
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About the sale Books & Manuscripts
Auction location
Auction time 10/30/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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