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an old book with writing on it sitting on top of a tablean old book with writing on it and a hand holding itan old book with writing on it sitting on top of a tablean old book sitting on top of a table next to a white wall
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1000 - [Provence – SAUVAGEON (Abbé)]. A record and collection of th…
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Estimate €1,500 - €1,800
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Description
[Provence – SAUVAGEON (Abbé)]. A record and collection of the letters written to me whilst the garrison was stationed at Valette, due to the plague raging in the Bas Comtat, namely in Avignon and other places, as well as in Orange, where one will note the various matters that came before me, and which I dealt with to the best of my ability. Work on this book began on 23 October 1725. [Explicit:] Completed by me at Tulette on 3 April 1726. J. Sauvageon. [Manuscript] Tulette, 1725–1726. In-12 manuscript comprising 210 folios, 13 lines per page in brown ink, bound in brown sheepskin, three-ribbed spine dated 1725 (contemporary binding) Unpublished contemporary epistolary account of the 1720 plague in Provence, the Comtat and Languedoc, which decimated two-thirds of the village of La Valette near Toulon (now La Valette-du-Var), one of the highest mortality rates recorded in Provence during this catastrophe. An exceptional work, though at times difficult to read; Abbé Sauvageon took care to append to his manuscript a Table of all the letters contained in this volume, listing the names of the inhabitants of La Valette concerned – an essential supplement to the village’s very scarce archives from the time of the outbreak – including the ‘Yellow Book’, a register kept by the Valette notary Jean-François Bouyon in 1721, ‘which undoubtedly forms the cornerstone of the investigation (but) cannot, on its own, provide all the information needed to reconstruct the tragedy as accurately as possible ’ (Gilbert Buti, *La Peste à La Valette: la peste au village, 1720–1721*. Marseille, 1996.)
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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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