First edition. Léon Say (1826–1896), grandson of Jean-Baptiste Say, ‘became one of the most prominent statesmen of the French Third Republic. He served as Finance Minister from 1872 to 1879, and again in 1882, overseeing the largest financial operation of the century – payment of war reparations in Germany. His financial policies were directed toward a decrease in public expenditures and the removal of barriers to internal trade. A brilliant speaker and debater, he railed against socialism from the left and protectionism from the right … Upon leaving the Cabinet, Say returned to his seat in parliament, assuming the leadership of the free trade party. He was at one time considered for the presidency of the republic, but was gradually set apart from his constituency by a rising tide of radicalism’ (The New Palgrave).

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COMTE, Auguste, and Albert CROMPTON (editor).

Confessions and Testament of August Comte: and his correspondence with Clotilde de Vaux.

First edition in English of Comte’s Confessions, which first appeared with his ‘testament’ in French in 1884. These take the form of ‘Twelve Saint Clotildes’, a series of annual confessions which he recited to his muse’s grave. Clotilde de Vaux was a divorced woman whom Comte met in 1844 through one of his students; their first recorded letter was written in 1845, in which they are discussing Fielding’s Tom Jones. Clotilde rejected Comte’s love as a divorced woman and a devout Catholic, though they continued to correspond, until in the following year Clotilde died of tuberculosis, becoming a Saint of the Positivist religion. The ‘Testament’ is simply Comte’s legal will, in which can be found the details of the bequest of his books to various disciples, including the ‘small edition of the Divina Commedia, which serves me for daily use’.

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[PATCH, Richard, defendant.]

The Trial of Richard Patch, for the wilful Murder of Mr. Isaac Blight, on the 23d of Sept. 1805, at Rotherhithe, in the County of Surr[e]y ... taken in Shorthand by Blanchard and Ramsey ...

First edition of this report of a famous trial (there was a rival version from the shorthand of Joseph and W. B. Gurney). Richard Patch (1770?-1806) was an unsuccessful farmer near Exeter who mortgaged his farms in 1803 and departed to London, where he entered the service of Isaac Blight, a ship-breaker in Rotherhithe. When Blight’s financial circumstances became embarrassed he conveyed his property to Patch to protect himself from his creditors and they entered into a partnership agreement. Patch was to pay £1250 for his share of the partnership, £250 from the sale of his farms and a further £1000 by 23 September 1805, a sum that he knew he had no means to obtain.

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