(MARIE-ANTOINETTE - LIBRARY). ~ Procès relatif à la publication du catalogue intitulé Livres du boudoir de Marie-Antoinette, prétendue contrefacon imputée aux éditeurs sur la plainte de M.J. Taschereau réquisitoire de M. Hémar, plaidoyer de Me Gallien, jugement en faveur de M. Gay, éditeur et de M. Louis Lacour, auteur de la publication. Paris: [A. Guyot et Scribe] au Bureau [Gazette des tribunaux], 1864.
8vo (210 × 130 mm), pp. 48. Manuscript inscription at rear from Louis Lacour (partially erased/obliterated). Early quarter calf. A good copy.
First edition of this rare offprint from the Gazette des tribunaux reporting the case and outcome surrounding the publication of Marie-Antoinette’s library catalogue, edited by Louis Lacour and printed as Livres du boudoir de la reine Marie Antoinette. Catalogue authentique et original for Jules Gay. Bibliographically and politically fascinating, the case was brought by the state against Lacour and Gay, alleging that the rights to the manuscript catalogue remained with the state, and that Lacour and Gay had sought to publish it for immoral reasons. It seems that it was this second contention that was the primary motive for bringing the case: with the Appendix here explaining that certain monarchical Legitimists had objected to Marie-Antoinette’s name being blackened further through the presentation of her private reading material - the books of the boudoir being widely considered trivial. There is also a discussion of the extent to which the manuscript catalogue really represented the queen’s reading matter, or simply an assemblage of fashionable books. The matter was decided in favour of Lacour and Gay, the former apparently arranging for this offprint - with manuscript dedications at the rear (obliterated in this copy). WorldCat: Bn. BL, Oxford (Law Library) and Michigan.