Almanach Royal, année M.DCC.XLVI. Paris, veuve D'Houry & Le Breton, 1746.

A FINE ARMORIAL BINDING WITH THE ARMS OF JOLY DE FLEURY

8vo (198 x 125mm). 442pp. Contemporary French red morocco, covers with fine ornate floral border roll, central arms of Jean-Francois Joly de Fleury, spine gilt in compartments with central fleur-de-lys stamp, superb gilt decorated endpapers.

Lavishly bound Royal Almanac for the year 1746, with the arms of Jean-Francois Joly de Fleury (1718-1802), successor to Jacques Necker as Director-General of the Royal Treasury and inheritor of the crisis in French national finances that would ultimately contribute to the overthrow of the Ancien Regime. Aside from losing his position, remarkably, Fleury survived the Revolution unscathed. 

Established in 1683 by printer and bookseller Laurent d’Houry in Paris, these hugely popular almanacs, issued annually, provided their readers with a calendar for the year, organised by month, accompanied by a compendium of useful information. This includes lists of members of the royal family and households; notable figures in the army and church hierarchies; directories of diplomatic and administrative bodies and universities, and so on. With the Revolution, the Gregorian calendar was replaced with the Republican, and details of new ministries replaced directories of the monarchy. Here, the pages for each month are interleaved with a blank, presumably for the notes and memoranda of its owner. This edition was printed by D’Houry’s widow, who managed the printing side of D’Houry’s business after his death in 1725.   

Olivier pl. 1955, fer. 1.

 

Stock Code: 224706