Voyage en France, par Arthur-Young, pendant les anne´es 1787, 88, 89, 90 Reduit aux parties de l'agriculture et de la statistique, avec deux cartes

Paris: Grimbert, Librairie, successeur de Maradan. Very Good. 1825. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. Halftitle, title & 520 pp pages; Contemporary green half morocco over marbled boards, plain tan endpapers. The half title is a bit wrinkled and the bottom third is loose at the gutter margin. A few minor brown paper flaws scattered through the text. No date printed, but published circa 1825 (see below). The English expert on agriculture Arthur Young (1741-1820) undertook three journeys in France -- in 1787, in 1788 and in 1789-90. His book derived from observations made on these early ventures -- 'Travels in France' was published in 1792, with a second edition in 1794. The original edition of the French translation was published in Paris by Buisson in 1793, three octavo volumes with two folding maps. In writing this text, Young described the condition of the people and the conduct of public affairs at a critical juncture, as the Revolution in France began. He later became an opponent of the French Revolution, condemning its violence. While he is still thought of as a major English writer on agriculture, he may have been best remembered by the time this later translation into French was published, just a few years after his death in 1820, as a social and political observer. Jean-Pierre Grimbert's career as a publisher was short; it appears that his business did not outlast even the short, unpopular reign of Charles X in the mid 1820's. On a dated title page from 1825, he described his firm as to "successeur de Maradan, Paris" -- [Claude-Franc¸ois Maradan]. Grimbert used verbiage referring to his predecessoron the majority of his own title pages, including the present, undated, volume. In 1825, the first year of his reign, Charles X secured legislation to pay an indemnity (the biens nationaux) to nobles whose estates had been confiscated during the Revolution. In the very same Month that the biens nationaux was effected, the King arranged passage of the Anti-Sacrilege Act. It is an understatement to suggest that these markers of a renewed ultraroyalism were highly unpopular in liberal Paris. J. P. Grimbert's final year of operation, at least as suggested by the 12 entries in OCLC may have been 1828, when he published a later edition of Le Confiseur moderne, ou L'Art du confiseur et du distillateur... by Jean-Jacques Machet -- a book first published by Madaran in 1803. The 1828 edition published by Grimbert is described on its title page as "5e e´dition augmente´e." If we judge by the paucity of surviving copies, Grimbert's edition of Arthur Young's 'Voyage en France' may not have been a success. We now know of three copes, located under two OCLC numbers. There are two copies located under OCLC 799298561. The catalogue for the first institutional location [Muséum national d'histoire naturelle - Paris] describes the two maps: "Deux cartes de´pliantes : "Nouvelle carte du sol de France" et "Nouvelle carte du climat et de la navigation de la France." The other copy located, at Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne is stated to lack the two maps refered to on the title page: ["Note sur l'exemplaire: Sans les deux cartes. Reliure basane..." The third location [under OCLC Number / Unique Identifier:457698721] -- is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The superb online catalogue for BnF does not mention any maps in their copy. It does not appear that any folding maps were ever bound in our handsome copy. .