EXCESSIVELY RARE EDITION OF THE COMMERCIAL CODE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

(Chateigner, Jean). Recueil de lois, réglemens et arrêtés pour les tribunaux de commerce, imprimeé par ordre du Directoire exécutif. Paris, Imprimerie de la République, An VII [i. e. 1799].

Half vellum over marbled boards.
Engraved head-piece with the revolutionary bonnet rouge (a Phrygian cap).

Extremely scarce edition of the Commercial Code of the French Revolution considered the first absolute French Commercial Code, also preceding the official French Code de Commerce of 1807. In this edition it is still described as «a collection of laws rules and judgments fro the commerce courts»: the name Code du Commerce will be added in the Bruxelles edition of this same year (see the link below).

The printing date is indicated according to the French Republican Calendar, also commonly called the French Revolutionary Calendar. It was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805. Years appear in writing as Roman numerals (usually), with epoch 22 September 1792, the beginning of the "Republican Era" (the day the French First Republic was proclaimed, one day after the Convention abolished the monarchy). As a result, Roman Numeral I indicates the first year of the republic, that is, the year before the calendar actually came into use.

References: No copy of this Parisian edition in OCLC, that locates only the edition printed in Bruxelles in the same year.

Code du Commerce, Bruxelles, An VII

A very fine copy.