Bows and Birds on Bastille Day
[ARCHERY.]
Programme contenant les conditions du tirage d’oiseaux qui aura lieu en la commune de Lille, chef-lieu de la Sous-Préfecture du troisième arrondissement du département du Nord, le 25 Messidor an 9, anniversaire du 14 Juillet. Lille, de l’imprimerie de Jacquez, [July 1801].
Broadside (54 x 43 cm, watermark ‘V. Perrard’), five-line title at head, 75 lines of text in two columns divided by a row of type ornaments, imprint at foot, uncut edges; central horizontal fold, somewhat browned especially to righthand edge and fold; overall very good; ’21 Mor.’ inscribed in ink to bottom right corner.
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Programme contenant les conditions du tirage d’oiseaux qui aura lieu en la commune de Lille, chef-lieu de la Sous-Préfecture du troisième arrondissement du département du Nord, le 25 Messidor an 9, anniversaire du 14 Juillet.
An apparently unrecorded broadside advertising an archery contest on the ‘champ de Mars’ at Lille, in northern France, to mark the anniversary of Bastille Day on 14 July 1801.
Three different events were to be held: the first using a bow to shoot iron- or horn-headed arrows at three artificial birds on perches (known as popinjay or pole archery); the second using a crossbow to shoot at five wooden birds arranged in a square; and the third employing darts to knock over three birds made of horn placed in a line on a block.
Each team was to be composed of between ten and twenty archers, with the order of competition determined by the drawing of lots at 9am in the town hall. Various prizes were on offer to the competitors, from silver cutlery sets, to snuffboxes, to coffee spoons. The games finished at 8pm and if any birds remained then the archers would return for a second day. Any unclaimed prizes were to be sold to benefit the poor (who must have been hoping for sloppy marksmanship).
This broadside was printed by Ignace-Joseph Jacquez (1745-1816), an important Lillois bookseller and publisher who was also a collector of paintings and art works and the city’s sub-librarian.
No copies traced on OCLC, CCFr, or Library Hub.