Arms of Pavé de Vandeuvre - Treasure of the Pyrenean Librari - Lot 372

Arms of Pavé de Vandeuvre - Treasure of the Pyrenean Libraries THIERS (Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe) Les Pyrénées et le Midi de la France, pendant les mois de Novembre et Décembre 1822. Paris, Ponthieu, 1823. In-8: 2f., 222pp. Contemporary fawn calf signed BOUSQUET (successor to Thompson), ornate ribbed spine, red title-piece and gilt fillets, triple cold fillet framing the boards, central gilt coat of arms of Pavé de Vandeuvre, small lack on board, gilt fillet on edges, fine interior gilt lace, marbled edges. First edition. Winter voyage published in 1823, then in 1828, 1833, 1840 and finally in 1877. The future head of state, then a young, penniless lawyer, had left his native Midi to satisfy his ambition, and went to Paris in 1821 to work as a journalist for the "Constitutionnel". His first trip as a journalist-historian took him to the Pyrénées Orientales and Cerdagne, where military forces were deployed for Spain, and then along the Massif to Bayonne. His aim is not to see the Pyrenees, but to see what's going on there. As Beraldi so wickedly puts it, he "did, however, make an ascent. He went up to Saint-Savin Abbey". A little harsh, Thiers never claimed to be a Pyrenean, and troop movements to the summit of the Vignemale were rare at the time (Labarère 1578)(Barbe 886 a). Provenances: gilded arms of Pavé de Vandeuvre, then copy of Canon Doazan, then library of Christain Galaup, acquired by Pr Labarère at the sale of the Galaup library. Guillaume Gabriel Pavée de Vendeuvre (or Pavé or Pavée de Vandoeuvre) (1779-1870), peer of France, created an earthenware factory in Vendeuvre and a glassworks in Spy in the Aube department. At Château de Vendeuvre, he built up an extensive library of historical and literary works, including rare editions.