[Collection des drapeaux faits dans les soixante districts de Paris en juillet 1789].

£9,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

with contemporary hand-colouring and revolutionary provenance One of the rarest 18th-century French illustrated books, even rarer with contemporary hand-colouring and apparent revolutionary provenance. A beautiful series of engravings illustrating the revolutionary flags for the ten battalions of each of the six divisions of the Garde Nationale created in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1789. Exceedingly rare, this collection provides the only witness that we have of these flags, which were all destroyed by decree in 1792 owing to the monarchical symbols they contained. A finely coloured copy, highlighted and stencilled in gold, and bound in a style similar to those made by Bozerian. It was first described when presented to the National Assembly on 7 October 1790 by Raymond Augustin Vieilh de Varennes, most likely the artist, whose work was engraved by Jean-Michel Moreau (Moreau le Jeune). This copy was most likely presented to Jean-Sylvain Bailly (1736-1793), the first revolutionary Mayor of Paris, by Pierre Francois Palloy (1755-1835), who called himself 'Palloy Patriote'. The autograph letter tipped-in to the work is from Bailly to Palloy thanking him for his gift and recommending him for his patriotism: 'Je recois avec rensibilité le nouveau présent de tu Palloy. Il donne tous les jours de nouvelles prevues de patriotisme, et il acquiert tous les jours des nouveaux droits à ma reconnaissance je le prie d'agréer me remerciements et mes compliments, J.S. Bailly'. Palloy

• Binding: Hardcover

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