first edition Full Calf
1783 · Philadelphia (?); Paris
by Rochefoucault, Louis-Alexandre de la; Benjamin Franklin
Philadelphia (?); Paris: Chez Ph. -D. Pierres et Pissot, Pere et Fils, 1783. First Edition. Full Calf. Very Good. First appearance of the Great Seal of the United States, with "E Pluribus unum" and 13 stars and stripes a part, appears on the title page. 8vo. 540 pp. This tome was the outgrowth of a meeting between Louis-Alexandre de la Rochefoucault and Benjamin Franklin on January 26, 1777, when Franklin was the ambassador to France. Rochfoucauld, with Franklin's encouragement, undertook to translate into French the constitutions of the 13 American states, and Franklin actively reviewed the work as it was being done and advised Roufoucauld on the sense and meaning of some of the trickier passages. In addition to these constitutions, the work contains the translated text of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, which was then in force, the 1778 treaty of friendship and commerce between France and the new-found United States. These were first published together in English in Philadelphia in 1781. This French edition of 1783 adds to these documents the translation of the text of the treaty between the U.S. and the Netherlands, which was signed in 1782, and the treaty between the U.S. and Sweden, signed in April 1783. Condition: leather loss along bottom half of front board edge and lower inch to two inches, rear board edge -- this isn't apparent looking at the volume from most angles. Minor wear by top of front joint. Number 113 impressed neatly top of spine, with surrounding area lightly abraded. Otherwise, a lovely copy in a still handsome contemporary full calf, with contemporary marbled endpapers.
(Inventory #: 006852)