[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

Rare first edition (cf. Polak, 1808; Quérard, II, 133. Not in Crowne Library. Absent from Brunet.)

Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, spines with five raised bands framed in gilt fillets, gilt double compartments with decorative tooling, red morocco title labels, volume label with partly faded gilt on vol. II, some joints restored, gilt roll-tooled caps partially dulled, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelles, red edges.

Some foxing, final leaves in both volumes and endpapers lightly toned in margins.

Appointed in 1763 as intendant of Saint Lucia, Chardon administered the colony until it was annexed to the government of Martinique. Upon his return to Paris in 1764, he successively held positions as Maître des Requêtes, intendant of Corsica, Attorney General at the Royal Prize Council, member of the Marine Administrative Committee, and inspector of naval ports. In 1784, he was entrusted with the drafting of the work entitled Code des prises, or Collection of Edicts on Privateering and the Administration of Captures. It explains, for instance, that in "1688, it was forbidden to bring captures made in America anywhere but to Martinique", and includes numerous documents referring to the "United States of North America," such as an "excerpt from the Treaty of Amity and Commerce concluded between the King and the United States," and accounts of "captures made by American privateers armed in French ports."