96 - DURIVAL, Nicolas Luton. Alphabetical List of Cities, Towns, Villages... in Lorraine and the Barrois Region.

DURIVAL, Nicolas Luton. Alphabetical List of Cities, Towns, Villages... in Lorraine and the Barrois Region. Nancy: Published by Thomas, 1766. In-8 (20.5 x 13 cm), aubergine half-basane, decorated spine (19th-century binding). IV and 176–6 pp. Third edition of this useful index for identifying and assigning each locality in Lorraine and the Duchy of Bar to its exact jurisdiction, published by Nicolas-Luton Durival (1713–1795), a Lorraine administrator and historian. As a capable administrator of his time, Nicolas Durival believed that it was impossible to govern without statistics, geography, and knowledge of his province’s history. That is why, as early as 1748, he had published anonymously an *Alphabetical Table of the Cities, Towns, etc., of Lorraine and the Barrois* (182 pp.), which was reprinted and expanded twice, in 1749 and 1766. This work made it possible to determine which duchy and which bailiwick a given locality belonged to. The pages are divided into two columns: the place name and the jurisdiction to which the locality belonged. For example, Ochey belonged to the Duchy of Lorraine and the Bailiwick of Vézelise, while Aubange belonged to the Duchy of Bar and the Bailiwick of Villers-la-Montagne. The 1766 edition is particularly interesting, as it was published in the very year the Duchy of Lorraine was annexed by France.