LA TRISTE JOURNÉE

8vo, pp. 28; manuscript shelf number on title-page, and 'Réclamation' in contemporary hand at foot of final page; uniformly lightly browned; in recent plain wrappers.

Rare revolutionary pamphlet marking the funeral of the republican journalist Elysée Loustallot (1762-1790), editor of the Révolutions de Paris.

Loustallot not only edited the Révolutions de Paris but also contributed a great deal of the content; after his death, the periodical continued under the editorship of Prudhomme, with contributors including Maréchal and Fabre d'Eglantine, before its closure in 1794; while always supportive of the ideals of the Revolution, it had become increasingly seen as unduly moderate, and the execution of Fabre d'Eglantine did not encourage Prudhomme to continue. Loustallot, in these circumstances, could almost be seen as fortunate: he died after a long illness at the age of 28 in 1790, and his funeral is here described by the popular revolutionary writer Fenon de Litany, who reflects on Loustallot's legacy and the nature of fame, while vividly depicting the atmosphere of the day: 'Nous marchämes quelques temps assez tranquillement: Les prêtres chantoient, Prudhomme, le désolé Prudhomme, beugloit; le Procureur-Général de la Lanterne déliroit selon son usage; l'original Républicain espéroit; tous les journalistes patriotiques se rengorgeoient à qui mieux mieux, & ceux qui m'entourroient, rioient, chantoient des vaudevilles, & bâtissoient des romans anti-révolutionnaires, dignes au-moins de quelques mois d'arrestation...'

Outside Continental Europe, OCLC records copies at the Newberry, NYPL, and the British Library.