- PARLEMENT DE PARIS - CHAMBRE DES ENQUÊTES Livre... Lot 6

- PARLEMENT DE PARIS - CHAMBRE DES ENQUÊTES] Livre secret de la mercurialle. Troisième chambre. Manuscript on paper. July 3, 1613- after January 1728. Interesting manuscript from the library of Dr. Lucien Graux. The mercuriales were meetings of the courts of justice held on Wednesdays. By metonymy, the term also designates the speeches delivered by the presidents of these assemblies. Indeed, the first part of this manuscript, written by the same hand, documents the various sessions of the third chamber of inquiries of the Parlement de Paris, and gives brief accounts of them. This part is interrupted after the copy of the "remonstrances présentées au roy le vendredi 22 may 1615". The rest of the manuscript contains texts of various kinds, from many different hands, and not necessarily consistent with this primary use. Indeed, there are a number of items relating to the Parlement de Paris, such as a list of all its presidents since its foundation, or a copy of the famous "Protestation des membres du Parlement contre les prétentions des Pairs de France". Elsewhere, we find a copy of Louis XIV's will and codicils, immediately followed by a satirical piece on the king's death, long attributed (wrongly) to Voltaire. Some of the pieces are actually rather amusing, such as "L'Echo des montagnes des environs d'embrun sur ce qui s'est passé au concile assemblé contre l'evesque de Senez", where the questions are formulated so that the answer seems to be given as an echo. Thus, to the question "What was the motive for the council assembled in this metropolitan area?", the echo answers "hatred". Finally, the manuscript seems to have been used for another kind of note, as one of its leaves is blackened with IOUs. Dillay Madeleine. Les registres secrets" des Chambres des Enquêtes et des Requêtes du Parlement de Paris. In: Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes. 1950, vol. 108. pp. 75-123. In folio (350 x 220 mm). Manuscript on paper, ruled. Contents: - Secret book proper. July 3, 1613-May 22, 1615. 26 pp. - Brief from Pope Clement XI to the King of France, May 8, 1714. In Latin. 2 pp. 1⁄5. - Copie du testament du Roy [Louis Louis XIV] du 2 aoust 1714; et des deux codicilles (13 avril et 23 août 1715). 14 pp. - [Les J'ai vu] Epitaphe satyrique sur la mort de Louis XIV, falsely attributed to Voltaire. 2 pp. - "Monseigneur, le Parlement se flatterte d'avoir donné assez de preuves de son zéle à V. A. R. to hope..." Protest by members of Parliament against the claims of the Peers of France. The text is attributed to Nicolas Potier de Novion (1618-1693), first president of the Parlement de Paris from 1678 to 1689, according to a handwritten note on the copy in the BnF (Clair-721, p. 869). 21 pp. - Liste de tous les officiers du parlement depuis son erection de l'an 1554 jusqu'en 1692. Followed by a shorter list of "Gens du Roy, avocats et procureurs généraux". 28 ½ pp. - Letter from the parish priests of the diocese of Paris to Monseigneur le cardinal. 4 ½ pp. - Declaration faite par le Roy catholique le 27 décembre 1718. - In the "opposite direction", 1⁄3 pages of declarations of debts, under the title: "Etat de ceux qui doivent des rentes au bail de la flourie". - Brevet de primat de la calote accordee à l'abbé Tencin, archevesque d'Ambrun par autorite du regiment. 1 page. - L'Echo des montagnes des environs d'embrun sur ce qui s'est passé au concile assemblé contre l'evesque de Senez". 1 page. - Brevet de Grand Ecuier du Regiment de la Calotte Pour Monsieur de Nevers. 1 page. - Nouveau brevet de la Calotte pour les juges de nouvelles commission dont on sert pour juger tous ceux qui deplaisent au ministre. 1 p. 1⁄5. - Le Coche Allegorique by M. Roy, against the 40 Academicians of the Académie Françoise. 2 pp. - Ode by Monsieur Arouet de Voltaire, in January 1728. The rest of the manuscript is blank, except for the rules, which are traced throughout the pages. Period binding: olive morocco, medallion wreath of foliage in the center of the boards, with the words LIVRE/SECRET.DE/LA.MERCU/RIALLE in the center, and cartouche with the words TROISIEME.CHAMBRE in the upper part of the boards, on a semé de lys framed by three gilt fillets, lily spine with similar decoration, gilt edges, remnants of laces (a few dark spots, leather faded in places). Provenance: Eugène Chaper (1827-1890; ex-libris): soldier in the Génie and bibliophile from the Dauphiné - Dr. Lucien Graux (1878-1944; ex-libris; his sale, second part, Paris, January 26, 1957, sold for 170,000 frs) - Alexis de Redé (ex-libris). An intriguing manuscript, originally linked w