Description:
8vo, pp. 12; very good in recent marbled boards. Rare first edition of this work on Parisian prostitution, attributed to the writer and journalist Émile Marco de Sainte-Hilaire (1796–1887). The Réclamation
is presented as a letter from the prostitute Modeste Agnès to the newly-appointed Paris chief of police, Guy Delavau (1787–1874), protesting attempts by retailers to exclude prostitutes from the Palais-Royal over the forthcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.
Modeste Agnès argues that she and her colleagues have as much right to do business in the Palais-Royal as anyone else, and that they pay for the right to ply their trade. Furthermore, they attract locals, provincials, and foreigners to the area to the benefit of the local economy, since their clients spend money in cafes, and on clothes and jewellery. In addition, they perform a service to society by rendering men more 'aimables, galans, entreprenans', by making the… Read More