Daniel-Marc-Antoine CHARDON
[CORSAIRE] Code des prises ou Recueil des édits, déclarations, lettres patentes, arrêts, ordonnances, réglements & décisions sur la courses & l'administration des prises, depuis 1400 jusqu'à présent
Imprimerie Royale (1640-1792)|Paris 1784|19.4 x 25.8 cm|2 volumes reliés
Rare first edition (cf. Polak, 1808; Quérard, II, 133. Not in Crowne Library. Absent from Brunet.) Contemporary full marbled calf, spines with five raised bands framed by gilt fillets and decorated with gilt double compartments and ornamental tools, red morocco lettering-pieces, marbled endpapers, gilt edge-rolls and red edges. Some early restoration to the joints; gilding at the spine ends and on the numbering-piece of the second volume partly faded. Occasional foxing; final leaves and endpapers of both volumes lightly toned in the margins.
At a time when American privateers were being fitted out in French ports and their captures were raising...
€6,000