France: Territorial planning - Manuscript Mémoires [des Intendants] sur les Généralités du Royaume

A series of 12 volumes in manuscript on the Generalities of France, e.g. volume 1 with 338 numbered pages prefixed by a hand written title page, followed by a transcript of a letter of 20 leaves in manuscript, instructing a survey of France in the name of the King Louis XIV (1638-1714) entitled 'Lettre du Roy Ecrir a M... Intindant Commiss.r Departia dans la Province', folio, contemporary calf, gilt tooled with thistle motifs to each corner

The paper variously watermarked including 'WB' surmounted by a coronet, 'J♡M' within an ovoid cartouche, a serpent within a circular enclosure flanked by armorial beasts and a badge below, as well as another of three balls within a laurel wreath and PHC with a fleur de lis

Ombersley Court, Worcestershire

A similar lot, solely for the generailty of Paris was sold Rossini, Paris, 9 July 2024, Lot 35. A similar manuscript version of certain elements of the current lot exists in the Biblioteka Jagiellońska (see link.)

The text in these volumes is well documented and was republished by Arthur André Gabriel Michel de Boislisle in 1881 as 'Mémoires des intendants sur l'état des généralités dressés pour l'instruction du duc de Bourgogne'.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the country's politics and markets, known as Colbertism, a doctrine often characterized as a variant of mercantilism, earned him the nickname le Grand Colbert.

Colbert re-developed the French economy by raising tariffs and encouraging major public works projects, as well as strengthening the French East India Company to ensure expansion and constancy in supply chains. He became the founder of the French Merchant Navy and secretary of State for the Navy in 1669.

The ambitious “Instruction on provincial administration”, spearheaded by Colbert, and the resulting comprehensive survey of France on behalf of the King issued in 1663 to the “masters of requests and commissioners stationed in the provinces” is thought of as the founding text of ‘territorial planning’. Colbert's ambitions played to the centralist ambitions of Louis XIV "Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a centralised state governed from the capital [Paris]. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism persisting in parts of France; by compelling many members of the nobility to reside at his lavish Palace of Versailles, he succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many of whom had participated in the Fronde rebellions during his minority. He thus became one of the most powerful French monarchs and consolidated a system of absolute monarchy in France that endured until the French Revolution"