[Rarebooks] fs: Diamond Necklace Affair -18th Century Publications

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

[Diamond Necklace Affair]  A Bound Collection of Pamphlets Issued by 
Individuals Involved in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.

Paris; 1786-1792.

An attractive period assemblage of a group of the printed pamphlets, 5 (of 
6) issued by some of the figures in the Diamond Necklace Affair, comprising-

“Memoire pour Le Comte de Cagliostro, Accuse; Contre M. L 
Procureur-General, Accusateur; en prefence de M. le Cardinal de Rohan, de 
la Comtesse de la Motte, & autres Co-Accuses”. Paris: 1786. In which the 
Count Cagliostro defends himself.

“Reponse pour le Comtesse de Valois-la-Motte, au Memoire du Comte de 
Cagliostro”. Paris: 1786. In which the Countess wages a counter-attack 
against Cagliostro by pointing out what a fraud he is.

“Memoire a Consulter, Pour Jean-Charles-Vincent de Bette d’Etienville, 
Bourgeois de Saint-Omer en Artois, detenu es prisons du Chatelet de Paris, 
Accuse; Contre le Sieur Vaucher, Marchand Horloger, & le Sieur Loque, 
Marchand Bijoutier a Paris, Plaignans”. Paris: (1786).

“Supplement et Suite Aux Memoires du Sieur de Bette d’Etienville, Ancien 
Chirurgien Sous-Aide-Major, Pour servir de Reponse aux differens Memoires 
faits contre lui”. Paris: 1786. Jean Charles Vincent de Bette d'Étienville 
became involved when he persuaded the Baron de Fages-Chaulnes to marry one 
of Cardinal Rohan’s mistresses, as a result of which the Baron ran up a 
steep debt with Vaucher & Loque, a pair of jewelers. As the Baron was 
involved in an intrigue with the Cardinal, and had also been used as a 
fence for the diamonds, and the prevailing mood was “arrest everyone”, 
d’Etienville found himself a defendant... This eventually also involved the 
innocent Comte de Precourt (see below).

“Reponse de M. le Comte de Precourt, Colonel d’Infanterie, Chevalier de 
l’Ordre Royal & Militaire de Saint Louis; aux Memoires des Sieurs 
d’Etienville, Vaucher & Loque”. Paris: 1786. Comte de Précourt, a 
widely-traveled and distinguished infantry colonel, was swept into the 
Affair when he guaranteed the debt of his fellow soldier, the Baron de 
Fages-Chaulnes. Again, the “arrest everyone first and sort them out later” 
ethic prevailed, and le Comte became a defendant.

“Memoire de M. de Calonne, Ministre d’Etat, Contre le decret rendu le 14 
fevrier 1791 par l’assemblee se disant nationale”. Charles Alexandre de 
Calonne was a friend of the de Polignacs, intimates of Marie Antoinette, 
and succeeded the popular Jacques Necker as Finance Minister. Necker had 
favored borrowing over taxes and brought the country to the edge of 
bankruptcy, but Colonne’s plan to correct this by taxing the nobility 
caused his sacking. Necker was brought back one last time and his second 
firing was the spark that led to the storming of the Bastille. Colonne and 
Necker engaged in a furious “pamphlet war” for several years. Here Colonne 
defends the du Polignacs against a judgment of 800,000 livres related to 
the debt.

Hardcover. 8.5”x10.5”, 51 + 48 + 30 + 69 + 42 + 36 pages; decorative 
headpieces; bound in old period flame-grained boards with a new leather 
spine; covers rubbed and worn; contents with some soil, browning, and a few 
scattered spots.  [07837]  $1,200.00

More on the Diamond Necklace Affair-
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