10 - A MAGNIFICENT ACCOUNT OF THE LAST GLIMPSES OF ROYALTY

A MAGNIFICENT ACCOUNT OF THE LAST GLIMPSES OF ROYALTY THE CORONATION OF CHARLES X. — Manuscript titled “The Coronation of His Majesty Charles X in the Cathedral of Reims, May 29, 1825.” [1825–1830]. Folio, brown-violet long-grain morocco, richly cold-stamped and gilded decoration featuring a large, fleur-de-lis-adorned and crowned frame on the covers with a gilded coat of arms in the center; title embossed in gold letters on the front cover, “CORONATION OF HIS MAJESTY CHARLES X,” ornate medallions at the corners, gilded interior frame, greige moiré endpapers; upper cap slightly rubbed, binding somewhat faded in places (contemporary binding). “ACCOUNT OF THE CORONATION OF HIS MAJESTY CHARLES X.” It begins by describing the preparatory work for organizing the ceremony, notably research into ancestral tradition, and then unfolds a narrative interspersed with descriptions. This narrative continues to cover the events that followed the ceremony itself: the king’s visit to Saint-Rémi the next day, his return to Paris via Compiègne, the Te Deum he attended at Notre-Dame, as well as the series of festivities held from June 7 to July 14, notably on the occasion of the conferral of the Order of the Garter upon Charles X by the Duke of Northumberland as extraordinary envoy of the King of England. The main text has been annotated by several other editors, who have added various comments: “It is not the purpose of this account to paint in vivid colors all the circumstances that marked the period of the Coronation; the Grand Master of Ceremonies’ account must have no other merit than that of accuracy; yet nothing would offer the writer greater inspiration than these scenes in which ONE SEES A KING WHO IS EVEN MORE REMARKABLE FOR THE GRACE AND CHARM OF HIS PERSON THAN FOR THE SPLENDOR THAT SURROUNDS HIM, AMIDST A CROWD WHOSE HAPPINESS IS EXALTED BY HIS PRESENCE... ” Beautiful calligraphic title page adorned with a drawing of a radiant crown (ink and pen). A DETAILED ACCOUNT PREPARED FOR THE MARQUIS DE DREUX-BREZE, EDITED AT THE INITIATIVE OF HIS SON. GRAND MASTER OF CEREMONIES FROM 1781 TO 1792 AND FROM 1814 UNTIL HIS DEATH, HENRI-ÉVRARD DE DREUX-BREZE (1762–1829) was notably responsible for organizing the ceremonies of the Estates-General and was tasked with conveying Louis XVI’s order to the Assembly to dissolve itself —it was he who received the refusal from Bailly and from Danton, who famously told him that the Assembly would be dispersed by the force of bayonets. Having emigrated in 1792 and returned to France in 1801, he resumed his position during the Restoration (and was then made a Peer of France). It was therefore he who was responsible for organizing the coronation of Charles X. HE PASSED THIS HEREDITARY POSITION ON TO HIS SON, SCIPION DE DREUX-BREZE (1793–1845), who was among the moderate royalists, opposing, for example, the publication of the repressive ordinances that precipitated the regime’s downfall. After the July Revolution, he resigned his office but remained a Peer of France. In this manuscript, Scipion de Dreux-Brézé wrote a note in his own hand, dated January 29, 1830: “The draft of this account had been entirely completed during the lifetime of the Marquis de Brézé, my father; it has merely been recopied and the documents arranged in the most orderly fashion since the king did me the honor of appointing me Grand Master of Ceremonies of France...” A MAJOR DYNASTIC, POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND HISTORICAL EVENT, THE CORONATION OF THE KINGS OF FRANCE has almost always been the subject of official or unofficial accounts, published in various forms, ranging from modestly sized pamphlets to lavishly illustrated volumes, as was the case for Louis XV and Louis XIV —Napoleon I, following their example, had a spectacular account of his own coronation published. If Louis XVIII did not follow the tradition of the coronation, it was because, bolstered by a deep sense of his hereditary legitimacy and the fact that he had been king by divine right for twenty years when he came to power, he did not deem it necessary to undergo a belated inaugural ceremony. Charles X, on the other hand, revived this ceremony as emblematic of the tradition of the Ancien Régime that he intended to embody. Several accounts of it were published in 1825. A SUPERB COPY IN A LARGE, ORNATE BINDING FROM THE PERIOD.