183 - [LA FITTE, Anne-Gédéon, Marquis de Pellepore]. The Devil in a Holy Water Font and the Metamorphosis of the Armored Journalist into a Fly.

[LA FITTE, Anne-Gédéon, Marquis de Pellepore]. The Devil in a Holy Water Font and the Metamorphosis of the Armored Journalist into a Fly. First edition of this pamphlet published under a pseudonym by the Marquis de Pelleport, denouncing French refugees abroad, particularly in London. Paris [London], from the Royal Printing Office, n.d. [1784]. In-8 (200 x 130 mm) in Bradel style, beige cardboard binding, burgundy title label on smooth spine (later binding). 159 pp. Scuffing, rare marginal pinholes, slight brown stain on the title page. First edition of this pamphlet published under a false Paris address (actually London), under the name of Pierre le Roux (a pseudonym for Anne-Gédéon de La Fitte de Pelleport), ironically dedicated to the Marquis de Castries and fraudulently presented as “revised, corrected, and expanded by Mr. L’Abbé AUBERT, Royal Censor.” This is a libel directed against Charles Théveneau de Morande, author of the *Gazetier Cuirassé*, a French libelist who had taken refuge in London and become a spy for the Paris police—which explains the term *mouche* (fly) attributed to him, a synonym for spy and informant. More generally, the work denounces the Secretariats of State for the Navy, Foreign Affairs, and the Paris Police, and sets out to expose and ridicule their fruitless operations in London in the years following the end of the American War. As *La Bastille dévoilée* (op. cit., vol. I, p. 51) points out: “Despite the jocular tone that pervades this work, it nevertheless offers a wealth of wise and profound reflections.” Above all, it offers a very precise picture of the community of French pamphleteers in London and of the methods employed by the French Embassy and the Paris Police on the eve of the Revolution against writings printed in London. [Quérard, IV, p. 395] Clean and fresh interior.