Lot 222
Alexander I, Tsar- Coulon de Thévenot, Jean Félicité
Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographs
Auction: Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographs | 09 May 2007
Description
Manuscript entitled "Essai d'une Législation de Bienfaisance", addressed to Tsar Alexander I, signed "Coulon de Thévenot, auteur de la tachygraphie, Rue D'Argenteuil Butte St. Roux, No. 19 A Paris", and below "Mme. Marnier née Coulon de Thévenot, Rue de bac 36 bis", Paris, [c.1801], 4to [26 x 20 cm], 65 pages, on paper, contemporary pink boards, olive morocco gilt label lettered "Pour S.M. Imperiale Alexandre Ier Empereur des Russies" on upper cover, boards rubbed
Footnote
Note: Alexander I succeeded to the throne in 1801 and one of his immediate concerns was the emancipation of the serfs, as is acknowledged by Coulon de Thévenot at the beginning of his proposal for charitable legislation, "une entreprise trop genereuse et trop sublime pour ne pas exciter l'admiration et la reconnaissance envers le souverain". He continues to discuss religious confraternities, workers' friendly societies, hospices, public works, soup-kitchens and other charitable organisations. The emancipation of the serfs did not finally come about until 1861.
Jean Félicité Coulon de Thévenot (1754-1813) invented the first significant system of shorthand in France, which he presented to the Académie royale in 1776. In 1787 he was appointed shorthand secretary to Louis XVI, and after the Revolution used his shorthand to transcribe the proceedings of the Convention. His daughter, Marie Félicité Victoire (1796-1869), married a sieur Marnier, and published her own Les Etrennes du tachygraphe in 1807.