Brissot de Warville, Jacques Pierre:

$750 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

NOUVEAU VOYAGE DANS LES ÉTATS-UNIS DE L'AMÉRIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE FAIT EN 1788. A very rare, largely unknown edition of Brissot de Warville's account, published the same year as the regular first edition, but here printed in much smaller type and on far fewer pages than the three-volume Buisson edition of 1791. The date on the titlepages here notes that it was published in 1791, and this two-volume edition may in fact pre-date the regular three volume edition. The present printing is not noted by Howes, Clark, Vail, or Monaghan, who all go to great lengths to list the various printings of Brissot's work, nor is it listed on OCLC. The third volume, not present here, is devoted to the French Revolution.Brissot de Warville's travels in America are narrated in these two volumes only. A leading Revolutionary and a driving force in the Girondist party, Brissot de Warville died in the Terror. This narrative, an account of a trip made just before the Revolution, is an important work by one who had come "to study men who had just acquired their liberty." He travelled south from Boston as far as Virginia, where he visited with Washington for three days, and he makes some interesting observations on Mount Vernon. He also had a political dinner with James Madison. A classic travel narrative which was widely translated and read.

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