Lot n° 89
Estimation :
500 - 600
EUR
TURGOT (Anne-Robert-Jacques). Le Conciliateur ou Lettres d'u - Lot 89
TURGOT (Anne-Robert-Jacques). Le Conciliateur ou Lettres d'un ecclésiastique à un magistrat sur les affaires présentes. Rome, s.n., 1754. In-12, half marbled calf, ornate spine, red title page, red edges (pastiche binding).
First edition, printed in small numbers, of Turgot's first book, a plea for freedom of conscience.
In 1754, after long quarrels between the parliaments and the bishops [...], it was proposed to the king, as a means of satisfying both parties, to grant the parliaments the right to force the bishops to make Jansenists take communion, and to console the clergy by giving them back the right to persecute Protestants, by withdrawing from the latter the de facto half-tolerance which the administration, having become gentler than the law, was beginning to allow them to enjoy on some points. This double injustice was combated by M. Turgot in his little work entitled Le conciliateur. He had only a few copies printed, for ministers, state councillors and a few friends. The king read this work and was persuaded; he ordered silence, persecuted no one and allowed no one to be persecuted. Everything calmed down as if by itself (Eugène Daire, Œuvres de Turgot, 1844, II, p. 688, note 1).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue