L'Europe et L'Amérique, depuis le Congrès d'Aix-la-Chapelle.

Paris, Chez Béchet Aîné; and Rouen: Chez Béchet fils, 1821.. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. 8°, contemporary plain blue wrappers (somewhat worn), publisher's printed labels on spines (slightly defective). Uncut and mostly unopened. Overall in very good condition; internally fine. (1 l.), xxvi, (2) pp., 255 p., (1 l. errata); (2 ll.), 257 pp., (1 l.). *** FIRST EDITION; a second appeared in Paris, 1828. Among the topics: the United States Constitution, Hesse-Darmstadt, social reform, political science, government and aristocracy in France and Great Britain, Latin America, the Jesuits, the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) and the Congress of Carlsbad (1819), following the Napoleonic Wars, the former French colony of Santo Domingo, and the "Manifeste de la nation portuguaise."Pradt (1759-1837) was born in Allanches (Auvergne) and received a doctorate of theology from the Université de Paris in 1786. In 1789 he was elected to the États Généraux, where he defended the interests of the clergy until fleeing to Germany after the outbreak of the French Revolution. For the next decade he lived in Hamburg and Münster, where he published several works critical of the Revolution. Returning to France in 1800, Pradt soon earned Napoleon's favor, and with it the offices of bishop of Poitiers (1805) and archbishop of Malines (1808). He undertook several diplomatic missions for Napoleon but, unable to serve church and state equally, found the work increasingly repugnant. Pradt renounced his office in 1816, immediately placing his pen in the service of liberal ideas and against monarchy. Of Pradt's 50 or so published works, all but a handful appeared from 1816 or later. Among his many works are Des colonies et de la révolution actuelle de l'Amérique (1817), Des trois derniers mois de l'Amérique Meridionale et du Brésil (1817) and Les six derniers mois de l'Amérique et du Brézil (1818).*** Palau 235033: does not mention preliminary leaves in either volume or errata leaf in volume I. Sabin 64891: giving the date of publication as 1821-22; without collation. On the author, see Nouvelle biographie générale XL, 970-3.