[COUDRETTE, Christophe, abbé]
Theological Dissertation on Lotteries. [No place, no name,] 1742. In-12 (163 x 94 mm) of 2 ff.n.ch. (title and errata), X, 1 f.n.ch., 344 pp. Speckled calf, spine ribbed and spotted (contemporary binding).
First edition.
"The practice of lotteries divided part of French opinion in the
17th and 18th centuries: economists and financiers in government circles advocated their use as a means of bolstering the public treasury, while many moralists, supported by parliament, were hostile in principle, in the name of religion and French tradition. (...) The Jansenists, as a whole, were very reticent about lotteries.
(...) They also emphasized that there was a link between usury and lotteries: by developing the acquisitiveness of gain, they also harmed their neighbours and ruined society" (René Tavenaux, Jansénisme et prêt à intérêt, Paris, Vrin, 1977).
The work concludes with the quotation of two rulings condemning the lottery, "unworthy of a Christian" and "the ruin of the poor people".
Small leather damages, notably to the upper cover and tail.