Amsterdam / A Philadelphie. Se vend a Paris: Marc-Michel Rey / Chez Ruault, Libraire, 1769. First Edition. Full-Leather. Very Good / No Jacket. Item #2305607

1769 first French edition of Plato's The Laws, bound together with a 1778 third edition of Benjamin Franklin's La Science du Bonhomme Richard (The Way to Wealth). Some pencil marginalia in 'Richard', edges a bit rubbed with minor loss from corners, tiny piece of volume II spine label missing.

viii, [8], 398, [2], 151, [5]; 502 pp. 12mo. Contemporary full leather, morocco spine labels, gilt titles and triple rules, marbled edges and endpapers. French translation of The Laws, a series of twelve Platonic dialogues written towards the end of his life. Grou, a Jesuit, fled to Holland when his order was suppressed in France, and it was there that these Dialogues were published. Later he returned to Paris and adopted the alias Leclaire, remaining there until the Revolution drove him into a second exile in England. As well as Platonic translations, Grou published theological works of a popular nature, including The Spiritual Life: A Comprehensive Manual for Catholics Seeking Salvation. The publisher includes a dedication to the then-living philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This set also includes a 1778 edition of La Science de Bonhomme Richard (Sabin 78111), which is a French version of Benjamin Franklin's The Way to Wealth. This work includes the sayings of Poor Richard, as well as the interrogation of Benjamin Franklin relating to the Stamp Act, Pennsylvania's new constitution, and the interrogation of William Penn by parliament. Franklin spent a good deal of time in France, and was well-liked there. The Way to Wealth was his most popular work, and though it first appeared in England in 1757, it was the French translation, originally published in 1777, that first included his commentary on British taxation of the American colonies. Herein he presages the colonists' discontent with being taxed and ordered about by a foreign power.

Price: $950.00