[ROBESPIERRE (Maximilien)]. À la nation artésienne, sur la n - Lot 215

[ROBESPIERRE (Maximilien)]. À la nation artésienne, sur la nécessité de réformer les États d'Artois, & sur les moyens de parvenir à ce but. S.l.n.d. [1789]. In-8, 50 pages, fawn half-calf with corners, red title page, red edges (Binding from the second half of the 19th century). First edition of this pamphlet, which appears to be Robespierre's first writing of the revolutionary period. This work is part of the debate on the constitution of the États provinciaux on the eve of the Revolution: behind the diatribe lies the political project. In early 1789, Robespierre wanted the "Artesian nation" to be freely convened, freely represented, and its voice not hijacked or framed by the States. He was already claiming the sovereignty of his provincial nation, but also that of the French nation [...]. He asks, rather like Sieyès in Qu'est-ce que le tiers état? that future deputies not be compromised in the selfish management of the province; they must be prepared to carry out the reforms that are needed, and in particular to destroy the privileges of the orders (cf. Hervé Leuwers, Robespierre, 2014). A second, expanded version was written and published by the author around March 1789. From the library of Louis Deschamps de Pas (1816-1890), numismatist and bibliophile from Saint-Omer, with his bookplate. Freckling on title page, slight upper wetness.