MANUSCRIT - PIDANSAT DE MAIROBERT (Mathieu-François).... Lot 206

[MANUSCRIT] - [PIDANSAT DE MAIROBERT (Mathieu-François)]. Ministry of Mr. Colbert [- Mr. Marquis de Seignelay, Mr. Chancellor de Pontchartrain, Mr. Count de Pontchartrain, Mr. Count de Morville]. Principes sur la marine, tirés des dépêches et des ordres du Roy donnés sous le ministère de M. Colbert [de M. le marquis de Seignelay/de M. le chancelier de Pontchartrain/de M. le comte de Pontchartrain/during the Regency and M. le comte de Morville]. S.l. [Paris], 1756, 5 parts in 2 strong vol. in-4, [130] ff. n. ch. (Colbert), [138] ff. n. ch. (Seignelay), [129] ff. n. ch. (Pontchartrain père) ; [173] ff. n. ch. (Pontchartrain fils), [146] ff. n. ch. (Morville), text framed in black fillet, writing medium, neat, very legible (about 20 lines per page), marbled fawn calf, smooth spines with partitions and fleurons, cherry-colored title-pieces, triple gilt fillet on the boards, double gilt fillet on the edges, gilt edges (period binding). Covers worn, corners damaged. A very precious documentary collection written in the context of the Seven Years' War and summarizing the maritime policy of France from 1669 to 1724. It was copied in several copies and distributed, it seems, to the main persons in charge of the navy (cf. provenance), and probably to the princes of the blood. One has been mentioned with the arms of Malesherbes, and another with those of the duke of Orleans. Quérard (VII, 151) mentions a printed edition of 1775, but this one does not appear in any repository, and the note must rather be understood as a bibliographical blunder. The author of this practical compendium may seem surprising at first: it is the famous publicist Mathieu-François Pidansat de Mairobert (1727-1779), better known for his newspapers and pamphlets full of indiscretions and scandalous anecdotes. But it should not be forgotten that, early in his career, he went to Paris and worked from 1750 onwards for the Marquis de La Galissonnière, former royal administrator of New France, who returned to France in 1749 and was appointed adviser to the Minister of the Navy, and that he wrote several memoirs for him. Among them, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War, is this compilation of guiding ideas on the administration of the navy, the race, the ladders and the colonies, which was to guide the minister in the conduct of the new war, which was even more maritime than land-based. To do this, Pidansat searched through the manuscripts kept at the Department of the Navy to extract, on each subject, the orders and correspondences likely to enlighten the "decision makers". The period covers the personal reign of Louis XIV (including the War of the Spanish Succession, important in many ways for naval warfare), and the Regency (continued in fact until 1724, after the death of the regent, date of the last recorded acts). Copies at the Service historique de la défense, in Vincennes (including G 69- 72), and at the Ministère des Affaire étrangères (including Rés. H-15). See Sgard, Journalistes, pp. 250-251. Copy of Charles-Cardin Le Guay (died 1781), commissaire de la marine, then premier commis de la marine au bureau des consulats (from 1750 to 1773), with handwritten bookplates.