Very rare first edition of this substantial memorandum on the "Pierre Calvet Affair", which unsettled Canada in the aftermath of the American War of Independence.
Sabin 21044. In the CCF, copies only at the BnF and Rouen.
A few light spots of foxing; a faint marginal dampstain to the fore-edge of the front endpaper.
Half green sheep with corners, smooth spine slightly darkened and ruled in gilt, gilt fillet border to the marbled paper boards, a central gilt cartouche bearing a crowned cipher to each cover. Corners rubbed, a few scuffs to the edges, bookplate pasted to one pastedown, lemon-coloured edges; nineteenth-century binding.
Parallel to the work The Case of Peter Du Calvet (784), addressed to the English courts, this volume presents the case for a Canadian readership.
The merchant Pierre Du Calvet (1735–1786), a French Protestant, settled in New France in 1758; he remained there after the British annexation and pursued a persistent political campaign on behalf of the inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, both to obtain a constitution and to secure fair justice for the former French subjects.
The present text concentrates on his disputes with Governor Frederick Haldimand (1718–1791) and on his brief imprisonment.
A forerunner of the long struggle waged by the citizens of the Province of Quebec for recognition of their political rights within the British Empire,
Du Calvet nevertheless remained largely forgotten in Quebec’s historical memory.
His actions, and even his name, were widely overlooked by posterity until the republication of his memorandum in 2002.