ARNOULD, Ambroise Marie. Histoire générale des finances de la France, depuis le commencement de la monarchie; pour servir d’introduction à la loi annuelle ou budjet de l’Empire Français. Paris, Imprimerie ordinaire du corps législatif, 1806.
4to, pp. xii, 224, iv, 164, [4] advertisements; printer’s device to the title; a small waterstain in the gutter of the initial six leaves, light spotting to the first and final few leaves; contemporary French institutional stamp, and another (inked out) to the title; a good, honest copy, entirely uncut in the original red marbled paper wrappers, spine defective in places, edges a bit frayed; preserved in a cloth box.
First edition. Arnould, a high official in the financial administration from 1798, and an ardent supporter of the Empire, wrote several books on the economic and fiscal organization of France. In this book, he gives an economic history of the reigns of Louis XV, Louis XVI, and the revolutionary period, which – in the advertisement for his other works at the end of the volume – is coyly termed ‘pendant la vacance du trône (de 1792 à 1804)’. The second part of this work is a valuable collection of legal texts on financial and economic matters related to France, from an edict by the Byzantine emperors Theodosius and Honorius (418) to the present day, with a few historical tables on monetary history, the price of wheat, public expenditure and tax. ‘His works contain valuable information upon the theory of trade, the state of the balance of trade in Europe during the 18th century, [and] French finances …’ (Palgrave).Einaudi 162; Fundaburk 5479; Goldsmiths’ 19258; INED 94; Kress B.5003; Quérard I, 98.
£450
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