POMPADOUR (Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, marquise... - Lot 23 - Osenat

Lot 23
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4000 - 5000 EUR
POMPADOUR (Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, marquise... - Lot 23 - Osenat
POMPADOUR (Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, marquise de). Testament and codicils of the Marquise de Pompadour. [Paris], Imprimerie de Ch. Est. Chenault, n.d., (1764), 2 vols. in-4, 7 - 16 pp. and 45 pp., midnight blue morocco, spine ribbed, gilt edges, double gilt fillet on the cups, wide inner lace (Rivière et fils). The one and only true edition of the Testament. Of the greatest rarity. This apparently very rare piece is by no means a pamphlet or satire, unlike many other opuscules entitled "Testament" and relating to prominent characters. Composed of several successive dispositions staggered between November 15, 1757 and [15] April 1764 (that is to say, the very day of the marquise's death), it really gives the last wishes of the favourite, both in favour of the King, and of his brother Abel-François Poisson de Marigny, and of the various persons in his household. What is strange in this edition is that the date of 15 April 1764 has been replaced by that of 19, for the last codicil, when the lady's first funeral service had already taken place. What does not seem right are the modalities and the reasons for the publication, which certainly goes back to the close entourage (the prince of Soubise, his executor, his brother, or even the faithful Collin?), and was perhaps decided either to silence the rumours that could not fail to circulate at the death of "Mama Catin", who had given so much to slander and satire, or as a necessary part of the legal actions that such an important inheritance was supposed to generate (cf. the following piece). Linked to the continuation: Memoir for Monsieur le Marquis de Marigny, Commander of the King's Orders. Against M. de Malvoisin, head of the carabinieri brigade, & Me L'Ecuyer, public prosecutor at the Parliament, guardian of the substitution pronounced by the Marquise de Pompadour. Paris], Imprimerie de J.-Th. Hérissant, s.d [1766], 16 pp. Absent from Corda. One of the codicils to Madame de Pompadour's will read: "In the
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