Collection de la Revolution Francaise
Paris: , 1789. Item #06634
“The Fall of a King: A Contemporary Archive of the French Revolution, 1789-1795”
Pamphlets, Proclamations, and Political Ephemera Charting the Collapse of the Monarchy and the Birth of the Republic - Preserved, Annotated, and Assembled in Real Time
[FRENCH REVOLUTION]. Collection de la Revolution Francaise. [A Remarkable Contemporary Archive of the French Revolution in Pamphlets, Broadsides, and Political Ephemera], 1789-1795.
A substantial and extraordinarily evocative collection of original Revolutionary pamphlets, broadsides, and small tracts, issued during the most volatile years of the French Revolution and preserved here in a contemporary gathered assemblage.
Comprised of thirty-eight separately printed pieces - many just a few leaves in extent - the collection spans the full arc of the Revolution: from the idealistic proclomations of 1789, through the escalating crisis of church and monarchy (1790-1791), into the violence and paranoia of 1792-1793, and finally the intellectual and political responses of the Thermidorian and Directory periods.
What distinguishes this archive is not merely its breadth, but its immediacy. These are not later reprints or formal publications, but the ephemeral working literature of the Revolution itself—texts printed quickly, cheaply, and in large numbers for circulation among citizens, deputies, clubs, and committees, and almost never intended to survive.
A Revolution in Real Time.
The collection captures, in striking sequence, the unfolding drama of the Revolution:
1789 – The Language of Renewal and Awakening: Early pieces such as Le Magnificat du Tiers-État, the Catéchisme patriotique, and L’Esclavage anéanti articulate the rhetoric of regeneration, equality, and civic duty that accompanied the meeting of the Estates-General.
Religion and the State: Works such as Le Cri de la Nation… Rendons les prêtres citoyens and the Grand jugement de la Mère Duchesne reflect the growing conflict over the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the transformation of ecclesiastical authority.
Conspiracy, Panic, and Popular Print: Sensational tracts like La nouvelle conjuration découverte illustrate the atmosphere of suspicion and accusation that permeated early Revolutionary Paris.
The Monarchy Under Siege: Royal proclamations (Seconde proclamation du Roi, 1791), loyalist protests (Appel de l’acte de dégradation…), and counter-revolutionary appeals (À tous François: salut et repentir) chart the rapid collapse of royal authority.
The Trial of Louis XVI (1792–1793): A particularly important group of pamphlets—by Boisset, Lavicomterie, Rabaut Saint-Étienne, and others—document the fierce ideological battle over the king’s fate, including calls for execution, appeals to the people, and denunciations of the Convention’s authority.
Terror and Reaction: Reports by Abbé Grégoire (on vandalism, language, and bibliography), denunciations of conspiracies, and Jacobin addresses reveal the machinery of Revolutionary governance and ideological control at its height.
Aftermath and Reflection: Later pieces, including Lezay’s Les Ruines (An III), offer a more philosophical reckoning with the devastation wrought by the Revolution.
Manuscript Context & Contemporary Use: A defining and highly desirable feature of the collection is the extensive contemporary manuscript annotation present on many items: Headings and summaries in ink, often dated (e.g., “5 août 1789,” “21 juin 1792,” “15 décembre 1792”), Numbering systems and classification marks, Occasional interpretive notes identifying political stance (royalist, anti-clerical, etc.). These annotations strongly suggest that the pamphlets were assembled, read, and organized by a contemporary observer—possibly a politically engaged reader, administrator, or collector—during the Revolution itself.
The result is not simply a group of pamphlets, but a living documentary archive, reflecting how these texts were understood, categorized, and preserved in their own time.
All items are preserved in their original or near-original state: Untrimmed, as issued; Printed on inexpensive paper, often fragile. Occasional staining, wear, or minor losses consistent with use and survival.
The pamphlets are chemised together in a gray cloth folder, and the whole preserved within a handsome full gray morocco clamshell case, the spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt in compartments, the third compartment with an inlaid French flag in blue, white, and red.
Such ephemeral materials were rarely retained, and even more rarely preserved together in a coherent contemporary grouping. Many of the individual tracts are scarce; as an intact archive, the collection is exceptionally rare.
Collections of Revolutionary pamphlets are known, but few retain this level of contemporary organization, annotation, and chronological breadth. The presence of iconic pieces (including the stark Nous sommes foutus), trial pamphlets of Louis XVI, and major Convention reports, combined with early 1789 material and later reflective works, makes this an exceptional and highly desirable institutional or advanced collector’s acquisition.
A powerful, deeply authentic survival - the Revolution in its own voice.
Price: $15,000.00