Rare: 1 Vol. In 12mo. Paris, 1770; “mémoires Pour M. Le Duc D’aiguillon” (the Brittany Affair)

This book, *Mémoires pour M. le Duc d'Aiguillon*, is a rare and mint-condition copy, printed in Paris by Boudet, the King’s Printer, on Rue Saint-Jacques. 1770.  (1770). A beautiful In-12 volume in full glazed, speckled light calfskin, spine ribbed and richly decorated with gilt metal fittings, title label in red morocco, marbled endpapers, red edges. A Bit of History: The “Memoirs for His Grace the Duke of Aiguillon,” published in Paris by the printer Boudet or Quillau, constitute a major legal document drafted by the famous lawyer Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet. This work lies at the heart of the famous “Affair of Brittany,” a major political crisis at the end of Louis XV’s reign that pitted royal absolutist power against the regional parliaments. The context of the crisis: the Duke’s Command: Emmanuel-Armand de Vignerot du Plessi-Richelieu, Duke of Aiguillon, served as governor and commander-in-chief of Brittany from 1753 to 1770... A fiscal conflict pitted the Duke, representing the King, against the Parliament of Brittany, which was protective of its privileges and opposed to the Crown’s demands... (The revolution was already underway!....)