"Mémoire Sur L'Etat Politique des Paÿs Bas, & la Constitution tant externe qu'interne des Provinces; Pour servir à L'Instruction particuliere de Son Altesse Roiale Mons[eigneu]r l'Archi-Duc Joseph".

Folio: [1]-173 ff., on paper, in French, expertly calligraphed (occ. spotting).

Contemp. red morocco (Brussels?), covers ruled with a large gilt floral border and dentelles, gilt orn. spine with raised bands and label, gilt and spr. edges, gilt inside dentelles (corners sl. rubbed, sm. scratches on covers). Very fresh and nice copy.

This "Mémoire", finely executed, is part of a pedagogical project intended for the future emperor Joseph II and whose economic part had been entrusted to the former president of the Privy Council Neny (1716-1786). Title with an elaborate architectural border with acanthus and grotesques, text under a ruled frame. Although confidential, this work nevertheless circulated before publication. It forms one of the versions of the future "Mémoires historiques et politiques des Pays-Bas autrichiens" published in 1784 in Neuchâtel (i.e. Brussels?), by de Fauche and Favre (i.e. Jean-Louis de Boubers?) and of which an in-depth and comparative study would prove interesting. Enriched with a letter s. "Neny" to "Monsieur Huughe, Echevin de la Chatellenie d'Ypres". Br., 8 March 1770. Bifolium: 1 p., on paper, in French, with red wax seal.
Ref. Sorgeloos, Cl. - "Les Mémoires historiques et politiques [...]", Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique, 38 (1989), pp. 7-56, 135-189.
Prov. Louis François Julien de Wavrans (1715-1796), president of the Chamber of Accounts (bookpl.).