[4 RARE PAMPHLETS REGARDING 4 SENSATIONAL FRENCH TRIALS]. Plaidoyer et replique de Me Chaix-d'Est-Ange dans le proces d'Emile de La Ronciere, precedes d'une Note de M. le lieutenant-general Clement de la Ronciere, d'Esquisse preliminaire de M. Eugene Roch, et d'une lettre de M. Emile de La Ronciere, adressee a "l'Observateur des tribunaux". (With Facsimiles). TOGETHER WITH: Plaidoyer de Me Chaix-d'Est-Ange pour M. le ministre du Commerce et des Travaux publics intervenant, contre M. Victor Hugo. TOGETHER WITH: Plaidoyer de M. Chaix d'Est-Ange pour le sieur Auguste Labauve, et les sieur et dame Formage, plaignans et parties civiles, contre Frederic Benoit, accuse. TOGETHER WITH: Proces fait a la lettre adressee au duc d'Orleans par Cauchois-Lemaire.

Paris: impr. Dezanche, and impr. Pihan Delaforest, and Delangle Freres, 1828-1835., 1828-1835.. Fair. - Octavo, 8-1/4 inches high by 5-1/4 inches wide. Four pamphlets bound into early brown calf, with an elaborate floral device embossed in blind at the center of both the front and rear covers within an elaborate outer gilt ruled frame with formal decorations. All edges are marbled. The rubbed & worn covers are detached and the spine has perished and thus lacking. The pagination is as follows: [i]-xii, 1-96 pp.; [5], 6-45 (1) pp.; 5 folding plates; [5], 6-66 pp.; [4] pp., 1-82. There is foxing throughout.

The ownership name of James Stewart and the faded date of "1881" is penned on the front blank. In what appears to be his hand, the statement "From Pierre Soule" is penned along the top of the verso of the front endpaper. Additionally, the attractive sienna-toned ex-libris bookplate of "R.G.S." is mounted on the front pastedown.

Stated to be from the library of Pierre Soule, with his name (signature?) at the head of the first pamphlet. Soule (1801-1870) was the French-born New Orleans attorney and Louisiana Senator.

The lawyer involved in these 4 cases, Gustave Louis Chaix d'Est-Ange (1800 - 1876), was the son of the attorney general at the court of criminal justice of Reims. As a lawyer his oratorical talent was noted at the Paris bar where he practiced. He was entrusted with a number of important cases and from 1842-1844 was president of the Paris Bar Association.

1) Plaidoyer et replique de Me Chaix-d'Est-Ange dans le proces d'Emile de La Ronciere, precedes d'une Note de M. le lieutenant-general Clement de la Ronciere, d'Esquisse preliminaire de M. Eugene Roch, et d'une lettre de M. Emile de La Ronciere, adressee à "l'Observateur des tribunaux". [Paris: De L'Imprimerie De Dezauche, 1835]. The sensational trial of Emile de La Ronciere (1803 - 1874) was most recently memorialized by John Fowles in his novel "The French Lieutenant's Woman". In chapter 28 of the novel he discusses the trial of the young cavalry officer who was accused of raping Marie, the sixteen-year-old daughter of his commanding General Baron de Morell. The trial itself revolved around a series of anonymous letters threatening the Morell family and signed "E. de La R.". La Ronciere was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison. The verdict was controversial and has been debated for many years. In the pamphlet at hand is included the text of a letter to the l'Observateur des Tribunaux written by La Ronciere's father Clement de La Ronciere on August 25, 1835 and one written by the imprisoned La Ronciere himself on September 10, 1835. These are followed by a preliminary outline by Eugene Roch. The text from the trial is based on reporting in l'Observateur des Tribunaux, journal des documens judiciaires. It begins with the plea of La Ronciere's attorney Chaix d'Est-Ange. Although misbound later in this collection of pamphlets, facsimiles of items used as evidence in the trial are included. These include 4 folding facsimiles on which are printed 8 samples of handwriting of La Ronciere and of Marie de Morell. Also included on a fifth folding plate is a remarkable plan of the home of the Morells with a view of the floor where Marie's room was located.

2) Plaidoyer de Me Chaix-d'Est-Ange pour M. le ministre du Commerce et des Travaux publics intervenant, contre M. Victor Hugo. [Paris: Imprimerie De Pihan Delaforest, 1832]. Victor Hugo's play, "Le Roi s'amuse", was the basis for the libretto of Verdi's opera Rigoletto. The opening of the play on November 22, 1832 was highly anticipated. The opening night box office receipts were an enormous success but the play was not. Both the audience and the critic's responses were negative. However the most devastating response came from the Minister of the Interior. He saw the play as an attack on the royal family and ordered it suspended, i.e. banned. In the Charter of 1830 censorship was stipulated to "never be re-established". This conflict led to a trial on December 19, 1832. Odilon Barrot represented Hugo and Chaix d'Est-Ange represented the Ministry of Commerce. He took the unpopular stand that the State had the authority to examine dramatic works before production. His plea is published here. Hugo lost this free-speech debate and the play was banned for 50 years.

3) Plaidoyer de M. Chaix d'Est-Ange pour le sieur Auguste Labauve, et les sieur et dame Formage, plaignans et parties civiles, contre Frederic Benoît, accuse. [Paris: Imprimerie De Pihan Delaforest (Morinval), 1832]. A VIVID ACCOUNT OF MATRICIDE! Frederic Benoit (1810 - 1832), known as "Le Parricide", was executed by the guillotine at the Place St. Jaques in the 14th arrondisement of Paris on August 30, 1832. The story of Benoit's killing of his mother in November 1829 and that of his male lover, seventeen-year-old Joseph Formage on July 22, 1831, is well documented and need not be repeated here. In this civil plea of June 14, 1832 on behalf of the butcher Auguste Labauve, and also on behalf of Joseph Formage's parents, Chaix d'Est-Ange outdoes himself in painting with vibrant colors the slaughter by Benoit of his own mother. Labauve was the second victim of this crime. In January of 1830 an anonymous letter was found threatening Benoit's father, a justice of the peace, as well as Labauve, with the same fate as that of Madame Benoit. The letter was said to be in the hand of Labauve. He was brought to trial for murder and was acquitted by a divided jury. However, he was sentenced to a 5 year prison term for having written the threatening letter.

4) Proces fait a la lettre adressee au duc d'Orléans par Cauchois-Lemaire. [Paris: Delangle Freres, Libraires, 1828]. In December 1827, the editor of the Constitutionnel, Louis Francois Auguste Cauchois-Lemaire (1789 - 1861), published a notorious 69 page pamphlet, "Sur la crise actuelle, lettre a S.A.R. le duc d'Orleans". The pamphlet, addressed to Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, was a powerful attack on the ultra-royalist government of Joseph de Villele and a denunciation of the so-called "massacre" that took place on the rue Saint-Denis on July 27, 1827. Cauchois-Lemaire concludes his essay, paraphrasing the French, "Thus liberty awaits the day which should let it emerge from its prison. And we who are tired of the long wait, together we call for a favorable star to hasten it." The result was that Cauchois-Lemaire was accused of trying to persuade the duc d'Orleans, the "favorable star", to lead the opposition to the government and have it overthrown. He and the two publishers, Ponthieu and Schubart, were brought to trial on January 12, 1828. Cauchois-Lemaire was sentenced to 15 months in La Force prison in addition to a fine. In defense of Cauchois-Lemaire Chaix d'Est-Ange, given that the facts of the matter were difficult to vindicate, delivered a brilliant thesis on constitutional law. The press at the time praised his eloquence. Cauchois-Lemaire himself was so impressed that he wrote Delangle Freres from prison on January 28, 1828 requesting that they publish a transcript of the trial. That letter, together with the proceedings of the trial are published here.