To Benjamin Franklin from Pierres, 2 October 1783
From Pierres
als: American Philosophical Society
Paris, le 2 8bre. 1783.
Monsieur,
J’ai l’honneur de vous envoyer cinquante-trois Exemplaires des Constitutions de l’Amérique in-4°. Papier d’Annonay. Il en reste trois entre les mains du Relieur; ces trois Exemplaires sont avancés à la reliure & prêts à couvrir.
| Vous en avez reçu déja | 42 Ex. |
| Au Relieur | 3. |
| Que j’envoye aujourd’hui | 53. |
| un Exemplaire imparfait ici | 1. |
| Un, que je garde suivant les Reglemens de la Librairie | 1. |
| Total 100 Ex. | |
Le Relieur m’a fait demander si vous trouviez bon qu’il allât vous porter le mémoire de ses reliures, Il me paroit qu’il a besoin d’argent.3 Je vous prie de vouloir bien me faire savoir quel est le jour que vous voulez que je lui assigne.
Quant aux brochures elles me regardent & entreront dans le compte de mon Impression.4
Je suis avec autant d’attachement que de respect, Monsieur, Votre Très-humble & très-obéissant serviteur5
Pierres
M. Franklin
3. The bookbinder Pierre-Etienne Janet (DBF) was paid 552 l.t. 10 s. on Oct. 5: Account XXVII (XXXII, 4).
4. Pierres was paid in two installments for printing Constitutions des treize Etats-Unis de l’Amérique. He received 1,200 l.t. on Oct. 27 and 1,722 l.t. on Nov. 6: Account XXVII.
5. Around this time, Pierres was printing for the publisher and bookseller Jean-Baptiste Cussac the first volume of Œuvres de Plutarque, translated from the Greek by Jacques Amyot and annotated by the abbé Brotier. Cussac had sent BF several copies of the prospectus (printed by Pierres), asking him to forward them to America; his undated letter announced that the edition would run to 24 volumes and be dedicated to Lafayette (APS). Cussac’s letter was probably sent c. December, 1782, soon after the prospectus was issued. Vol. 1 was announced for sale in the Jour. de Paris on Oct. 24, 1783, and reviewed favorably in the issue of Oct. 29. The review praised Pierres’s typography and reported that Lafayette’s portrait and the dedication had been removed because, as the volume explained (pp. vii–viii), the “jeune & illustre Guerrier” declined the honor out of modesty. For the date of the prospectus and an overview of the story see George B. Watts, Philippe-Denis Pierres, First Printer Ordinary of Louis XVI (Charlotte, N.C., 1966), pp. 23–4.