[Nancy: Chez Pierre Barbier, 1786]. An Unrecorded Memorandum on Forestry with Interesting, Detailed Annotations by a Contemporary Reader [France]. Memoire Pour les Officiers de la Maitrise des Eaux et Forets de Sarguemines, Defendeurs & Demandeurs: Contre les Maire, Syndic, Habitans & Communaute de Rhaling, Defendeurs & Demandeurs. [Nancy: Chez Pierre Barbier, 1786]. 51, [3] pp. With a folding plate containing 12 diagrams and maps of forest boundaries. Folio (15" x 9-1/2"). Later (nineteenth-century) quarter morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, blind fillets and gilt title to spine, marbled endpapers. Small scuff to front board, light rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and worn, later monogram bookplate to front pastedown. Light toning to interior, light foxing and soiling to a few leaves, faint dampstain to lower gutter of last several leaves, ink owner stamp (of [illegible] Grandjean D'Aireville) to first and final pages, early annotations and corrections throughout (annotations to first 20 pages). $2,000. * This interesting legal memorandum discusses woodcutting and forest management in Sarreguemines and Nassau-Saarbrucken at the present-day border between France and Germany. Forests were of key commercial and political interest to local authorities and the center of many disputes during a period where borders were often in flux. The annotator of this copy clearly possessed deep knowledge of the law relating to surveying and forestry. The annotations provide both corrections to the text and technical, often extensive commentary on points raised. A particularly long annotation gives additional historical information and context for a 1767 boundary marking on a forest spanning two cantons. This title is rare and appears to be unrecorded. No copies located by OCLC, which finds 1 copy of a similar work (an earlier edition?) with a variant title (National University Library of Strasbourg). Not at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.
