13 - [ALMANAC - REVOLUTION]. COLLOT D'HERBOIS, Jean-Marie. Father Gérard’s Almanac for the Year 1792.

[ALMANAC - REVOLUTION]. COLLOT D'HERBOIS, Jean-Marie. Father Gérard’s Almanac for the Year 1792. First illustrated edition of this famous revolutionary almanac, in a superb full morocco binding of the period. Paris, Buisson, 1792. In-16, full red morocco, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, title label in brown morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the covers, guilloché-embossed edges, cuts, and chases, blue marbled paper endpapers and inner covers, all edges gilt (contemporary binding). 160 pages, 1 frontispiece engraved by de Launay after Borel. Scuffs, some foxing, more noticeable in the margins and on the title page. Second edition of this famous revolutionary almanac by Jean-Marie Collot d’Herbois (1749–1796), a future member of the Committee of Public Safety. It is illustrated in the first printing with a copperplate-engraved frontispiece by De Launay after Borel, depicting Father Gérard holding the book of the Constitution and explaining it to his fellow citizens. A huge popular success upon its publication, this work saw eight Parisian editions within a few months and won the contest of the Society of Friends of the Constitution organized by the Jacobin Club. Conceived as an educational dialogue between “Father Gérard” and the inhabitants of his village, its purpose was to popularize and explain the benefits of the French Constitution adopted by the National Assembly in September 1791. The character of “Father Gérard” was inspired by Michel Gérard, a genuine Breton peasant and deputy of the Third Estate in the Constituent Assembly, who embodied common sense and the ideal patriotic citizen. [Cohen, 249] A very fine copy, uncommon in this type of binding.