Beschreibung
8°, contemporary tree calf (wear at corners, head and foot of spine; other minor wear), smooth spine gilt with olive morocco lettering-piece, gilt letter, marbled endleaves and edges. Very occasional light foxing. In good to very good condition. Contemporary ink inscription "Conde de Rio Maior Antonio" on half-title. xxvii, 378 pp. *** FIRST EDITION of this survey of Europe in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), including military status and public debts of sovereign nations, and a comparison with the status of Europe before the French Revolution. OCLC lists 1819 editions with imprints of Paris, and Paris and Brussels.Pradt (1759-1837) was born in Allanches (Auvergne) and received a doctorate of theology from the Université de Paris in 1786. In 1789 he was elected to the États Généraux, where he defended the interests of the clergy until fleeing to Germany after the outbreak of the French Revolution. For the next decade he lived in Hamburg and Münster, where he published several works critical of the Revolution. Returning to France in 1800, Pradt soon earned Napoleon's favor, and with it the offices of bishop of Poitiers (1805) and archbishop of Malines (1808). He undertook several diplomatic missions for Napoleon but, unable to serve Church and State equally, found the work increasingly repugnant. Pradt renounced his office in 1816, immediately placing his pen in the service of liberal ideas and against monarchy. Of Pradt's fifty or so published works, all but a handful appeared in 1816 or later. Among his many works are Des colonies et de la révolution actuelle de l'Amérique (1817), Des trois derniers mois de l'Amérique Meridionale et du Brésil (1817) and Les six derniers mois de l'Amérique et du Brézil (1818).Provenance: D. António de Saldanha Oliveira Jusarte e Sousa (Azinhaga, 1776-Vienna, 1825), second Conde de Rio Maior, eldest son of the first count, grandson of the first Marques de Pombal, army officer, and confidant of D. João, the Prince Regent, later King D. João VI. He accompanied the royal family to Brazil in 1807, returning with the King to Portugal in 1821. Shortly afterwards he was sent on an abortive mission to Brazil, and in 1823 he was charged with the thankless task of accompanying the Infante D. Miguel when that prince was sent into forced exile. The Casa da Anunciada library of the Counts of Rio Maior was one of the best private libraries ever formed in Portugal. It was dispersed for the most part not long after the April 1974 Portuguese revolution.*** On the author, see Nouvelle biographie générale XL, 970-3. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 23186
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