Arrêtés, décisions et circulaires sur le commerce de l'opium et des eaux-de-vie de riz en Cochinchine

Saigon: Imprimerie de Gouvernement, 1878. First Edition. 24pp. 4to. Original printed yellow wrappers. Very good condition. First Edition. 24pp. 4to. The French government of French Cochinchina (present-day southern Vietnam) funded its occupation primarily through three state-controlled monopolies: opium, salt, and alcohol. This publication prints several regulations dating from 13 January 1870 to 8 September 1877. The regulation from 5 October 1871 relates to all alcohol made from rice (including sake), is signed by Commander Adimral Dupré and specifies in nineteen articles the rules by which France will administer its monopoly on alcohol.

Details include how much sake a farmer might have for personal consumption as well as how he ought to keep his account books to verify production and consumption. The detail placed on these laws, as well as those regulating opium, show an evolution of the French maintenance of a monopoly on these two goods.

The author, Marie Jules Dupré, was the governor of Cochinchina from 1871-1874. He negotiated the treaty with the Emperor of Vietnam that concluded the war that resulted from the invasion by the government of Napoleon III in 1858. By 1862 the area was under the control of the French -- it remained a French colony until 1949.

OCLC shows only one copy, at the New York Public Library. This book is not in the usual wine or gastronomic bibliographies.