Institutions

17894 — A Paris, 1776. (2), 155, (1) pp. 8vo. Contemporary marbled calf, spine gilt in compartments, gilt lettering. Kress 7193; not in Goldsmiths; not in Einaudi; this edition not in INED; Camus 1566; Peinot, Livres Condamnés, i, p. 43 (with wrong date). Third edition, published in the same year as the first edition, the other two having only 48 and 72 pages respectively. Pierre-François Boncerf, French writer on agrarian subjects. While a clerk in the ministry of finance under Turgot he published a pamphlet, Les inconvénients des droits féodaux. According to Palgrave the work was published with the consent of Turgot. In it he attacked the contemporary system of feudal dues as ruinous to those who pay them, of little advantage to its benificiaries and contrary to the principles of freedom. The solemn condemnation of the pamphlet by the parlement of Paris, which the king vetoed, and the ensuing controversy in the press, in which Voltaire took a prominent part, established Boncerf's reputation and resulted in the translation of the work into many European languages. The pages 70-end contain the relevant texts by Montesquieu. The work was first published anonymously, a second edition was published with the pseudonym M. Francaleu.