La Constitution françoise, présentée au Roi par l'Assemblée Nationale, le 3 Septembre 1791, acceptée le 13 et le 14.

A rare and sought-after edition of the French Constitution, published the same year as the first edition, printed by Pierre-Samuel du Pont de Nemours, deputy to the National Assembly, who was also a journalist, philosopher, economist, and Franco-American diplomat. He worked as a bookseller-printer from 1791 to 1800 alongside the chemist Antoine de Lavoisier, then with his son Eleuthère-Irénée, founder of the world's oldest chemical company, E.I. du Pont de Nemours.

Contemporary full calf, smooth spines divided by gilt fillets, gilt floral decoration in compartments, red morocco label, boards framed with a double gilt fillet, board edges decorated with a thicker gilt fillet, gilt edges, blue paper endpapers.

Spine rubbed, headcaps missing, some browning to upper portion of front board, upper joint of rear board split for 4.8 cm, splitting starting at foot of rear board, corners bumped.

Inside this copy: a few very minor spots of foxing affecting first and last leaves, stain to verso of lower pastedown.

Close to Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and Jacques Necker, Pierre-Samuel du Pont de Nemours, whose eloquence captivated the National Assembly, brought the same fervor to his writings. Among his contributions as a deputy was his 1789 report on the division of the Île-de-France, one of the very first on the subject. In the summer of 1791, he established his own bookselling and printing business with his friend Antoine de Lavoisier, disseminating among other things the political ideas of the time, including this edition of the French Constitution. His business was marked by several hardships, notably the pillaging of his substantial collection of Oriental typefaces. Pierre-Samuel du Pont de Nemours's partnership with his son from 1792 onward proved a formative entrepreneurial experience for the latter. When the family settled in the United States, Eleuthère-Irénée founded his own company in 1802, a gunpowder manufactory, which would give rise to the future inventions of rayon, nylon, and Kevlar. His direct descendants, some of whom still bear the name Eleuthère-Irénée, are today among the wealthiest families in the United States.

This 1791 edition of the French Constitution, issued from the press of the printing house run by the deputy Pierre-Samuel du Pont de Nemours. He practiced the trade of bookseller-printer for barely nine years, making his editions highly sought after, particularly in the nineteenth century.