Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 159 6 Mar 2021
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The Marquis de Condorcet's Treatise on Coinage
Condorcet. MÉMOIRES SUR LES MONNAIES, PAR M. DE CONDORCET, INSPECTEUR-GENERAL DES MONNOIES. Paris: Baudouin, Imprimeur de l'Assemblée Nationale, 1790. Small 8vo, somewhat later full tan speckled calf; spine with four raised bands, ruled and decorated in gilt, with red spine panels lettered in gilt; marbled endpapers; silk marker. 24 + 28 + 26 + (2), 41, (1) pages. Near fine. A rare treatise on coinage by this notable French intellectual. Complete as issued (the second pagination includes both the second and third mémoires). Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet (1748–1794), was appointed as inspector general of the Paris Mint in 1775 by Jacques Turgot. One of his key assignments was to reform the system of weights and measures then being used by the kingdom. Among his correspondents was Benjamin Franklin, with whom he discussed much beyond their shared scientific interests. In a letter to Franklin written on 20 août 1783, Condorcet referred to the American Revolution as "la plus grande revolution politique dont on ait Conservé La mémoire, et La seule qui ait eu La conservation des droits des hommes pour motif, et le bonheur du genre humain pour objet" ["the greatest political revolution of which the memory has been Preserved, and the only one which had The preservation of the rights of men for motive, and the happiness of the human race for object"]. Condorcet came under the disapproval of the Montagnards in 1793, and he died in prison the following year.
Condorcet. MÉMOIRES SUR LES MONNAIES, PAR M. DE CONDORCET, INSPECTEUR-GENERAL DES MONNOIES. Paris: Baudouin, Imprimeur de l'Assemblée Nationale, 1790. Small 8vo, somewhat later full tan speckled calf; spine with four raised bands, ruled and decorated in gilt, with red spine panels lettered in gilt; marbled endpapers; silk marker. 24 + 28 + 26 + (2), 41, (1) pages. Near fine. A rare treatise on coinage by this notable French intellectual. Complete as issued (the second pagination includes both the second and third mémoires). Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet (1748–1794), was appointed as inspector general of the Paris Mint in 1775 by Jacques Turgot. One of his key assignments was to reform the system of weights and measures then being used by the kingdom. Among his correspondents was Benjamin Franklin, with whom he discussed much beyond their shared scientific interests. In a letter to Franklin written on 20 août 1783, Condorcet referred to the American Revolution as "la plus grande revolution politique dont on ait Conservé La mémoire, et La seule qui ait eu La conservation des droits des hommes pour motif, et le bonheur du genre humain pour objet" ["the greatest political revolution of which the memory has been Preserved, and the only one which had The preservation of the rights of men for motive, and the happiness of the human race for object"]. Condorcet came under the disapproval of the Montagnards in 1793, and he died in prison the following year.