‎(HELIE, J.-B.)‎
‎Procès-verbal des derniers Etats-Généraux tenus aux Enfers, Où se trouve les Plaidoyers de l'Evêque de Grenoble et Judas. Dédié au Clergé & à la Noblesse de France, par l'Archevêque d'Embrun.‎

‎De l'Imprimerie Royale des Enfers, 1789. 61, (1) pp. 8vo. Modern marbled boards, label with gilt lettering. Monglond, i, col. 271, giving Abbé Jean-Baptiste Helie as author; Martin & Walter, Anonymes, 14529; Conlon 89:8957. Rare first edition of this diatribe on the occasion of the suicide of the bishop of Grenoble, Jean-Marie-Anne Hay de Bonteville. Nice copy of this vehement satire in which Hay de Bonteville delivers a speech at the States General in hell, discusses with Judas, claims the right to replace Judas as the right-hand of Lucifer, etc. It is a vehement mockery of the career of Hay de Bonteville and the manner in which this officer of the Church exercised his duties: he spend most of his time in Paris or in his house in the countryside. He committed suicide in october 1788 probably for having played a dubious role in pre-revolutionary events in the Dauphiné. The work furthermore includes many allusions to recent events in France (dismissing of Necker, re-calling of Necker, difficulties in organizing the States General, ridicules various high-ranking officers, etc.) - Title-page with a dust stain in the upper outer margin, a nice copy with large margins. ‎

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