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an old book sitting on top of a white table next to a white wallan old book with a black and white title on itan old book with a black and white image of a bird on top of itan open book with a picture of a man and a dog on itan old book with a tableau written on it on top of a table
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570 - Demography – [CERFVOL (Chevalier de)]. A Treatise on Populat…
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Estimate €900 - €1,000
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Description
Demography – [CERFVOL (Chevalier de)]. A Treatise on Population, setting out the means of restoring it, and of securing a military force that is both enduring and growing. London, n.p., 1768. In-8, 115 pp., with a fold-out table as a separate insert, tortoiseshell-patterned calfskin, smooth decorated spine, title page, triple gilt line framing on the covers, marbled edges (contemporary binding). Caps and corners slightly rubbed, scuff marks on the covers, but a good copy. First edition. An intriguing essay devoted to the ‘repopulation’ of France, in which Cerfvol attributes depopulation to celibacy and certain social institutions. In particular, he advocates divorce, marriage for soldiers and the integration of foreigners in order to boost the birth rate. A representative account of late 18th-century demographic theories. (INED, 1017. Kress 6531.) Bound together as follows: I. Judgement of the Court of Parliament, extract from the Parliamentary registers. Dated 28 February 1769. Paris, P.-G. Simon, 1769, 7 pp. in quarto format, folded to octavo. This is the judgement ordering the tearing up and destruction of Cerfvol’s work on population. II. [LE TROSNE (Guillaume-François):] Memoir on vagrants and beggars. Soissons, now in Paris, P.-G. Simon, 1764, [2]–76 pp. First edition of this important work, which reinforces the already ‘bourgeois’ view of beggars. The author quite simply advocates sentencing them to the galleys for life. INED, 2877. III. DUPONT DE NEMOURS (Pierre-Samuel): On the Export and Import [sic] of Grain. Soissons, and available in Paris, published by P.-G. Simon, 1764, [2]-VIII-174-[2] pp., with a fold-out table as a separate insert. First edition of this plea for the free trade in grain, a pet subject of the Physiocratic school. Pages 15 to 46 are missing. INED 1605.
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About the sale MONTIGNAC – 31st BOOK SALE – Day 2 of 4 – Nos. 550 to 1084
Auction location
Auction time 08/20/2026 at 11:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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