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Première constitution française et son préambule : Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen in Almanach royal année bissextile MDCCXCII

De l'imprimerie de Testu, Paris s.d. (1791), in-8 (13x19,5cm), 680 pp. (1p.), relié.

First edition of this Almanac with the first French Constitution, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen as a preamble. Complete with the copperplate engraved folding map.
Full red morocco binding, spine with five raised bands elaborately gilt in compartments with fleurs-de-lis, multiple gilt-rolled and tooled borders, gilt bouquets of flowers in the corners, fasces surmounted by a Phrygian cap at center of boards, with a wreath and the motto "Vivre libre ou mourir" ("Live free or die"), watered silk endleaves, all edges gilt. Small restorations to the color and gilt to joints and spine-ends.
The Almanach Royal for 1792 contains the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, as well as the text of the first French Constitution adopted in the autumn of 1791 (pp. 83-117). It is the very last of royal almanacs published with royal privilege.
"Those seen on this almanac are neither farmers, nor merchants, nor artisans, nor artists, and it is nevertheless the part of the nation that entirely governs the other. If you were to remove the idea of all these names, wouldn't the nation still exist? Oh very well, I assure you" (L.-S. Mercier, Tableau de Paris).
The famous motto "Vivre libre ou mourir" was first used by Jacobins before being adopted by Camille Desmoulins. It still appears today at the foot of the statue representing the National Convention in the Pantheon.
A rare and luxurious full morocco binding, combining fleurs-de-lis and revolutionary symbols, characteristic of the years of constitutional monarchy.

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