‎Georges Bordonove‎
‎Histoire secrète de Paris tome second‎

‎Les masques arrachés, Histoire secrete des révolutions et contre-révolutions du Brabant et de Liege, Contenant les vies privées de Vander-Noot, Van Eupen, le Cardinal de Malines, la Pineau, l'Evêque d'Anvers, Madame Cogneau, & autres personnages fameux. Par Jacques le Sueur, Espion honoraire de la police de Paris, & ci-devant employé du ministere de France en qualité de clairvoyant dans les Pays-Bas autrichiens. Nouvelle Édition, Revue, corrigée & augmentée de deux rapports. Tome Premier [-Tome Second].‎

‎Anvers, 1791. Two parts in one volume. 216 pp.; 235, (1) pp. 12mo. Contemporary green half calf, corners, marbled boards, spine gilt in compartments, a bit rubbed and worn. Caillet 6610. Second and augmented edition. These imaginative volumes in which the events in France and Belgium (the Hendrik van der Noot of the title had invaded Belgium at the head of an armed group from the north a few months after the fall of the Bastille) were described as early as 1790 as the result of a conspiracy of secret societies. Spiced by the odd salacious anecdote, the book was reprinted in 1791. Jacques le Sueur was the pseudonym of the French playwright Alexandre-Louis-Bertrand Robineau, who also used the name Beaunoir. Robineau was a prolific writer but his works forced him to leave the order he belonged to and he later had to abandon his position at the Bibliothèque du Roi: his co-workers thought his works were 'bien légères' and asked him no longer to sign his work, not even with his pen-name. He started using the name of his wife but his co-workers judged it not sufficient. Robineau gave up his position.In 1789 he left France because of the revolution and moved to Belgium. He became actively involved in politics as a political writer in opposition to the revolution. It has been said that the present work contributed to the fall of Van der Noot. - With bookplate "Ex Bibliotheca J.W. Six." ‎