History of the Commune of Paris

VESINIER, P. [Pierre]; translated by J. V. Weber

Published by Chapman and Hall, London, 1872

About this Item

Octavo, 337pp., with one folding map at frontis, hand-tinted to illustrated the fortifications which encircled Paris during the 1871 communist uprising. A very good copy in late 19th or early 20th century 3/4 brown calf and rough-grain burgundy cloth. Spine with raised bands, gilt compartments, red morocco spine label. Patterned endpapers. Front board expertly re-attached, and the rear board with a ver slight partial crack, but holding. Some gentle rubbing to extremities, notable the corners and spine ends, else a sound, crisp copy. The folding map is lightly dust-soiled, with a few thin creases, but clean and sound. Bookplate of Philip Durham Trotter, who seems to have been a late-19th century British diplomat, on the front paste-down. An exceedingly scarce account of the exciting events of the 1871 Paris commune, written by one of its participants. As a journalist who had joined the International Workers Association in 1864, and published cartoons critical of Napoleon III and others, Vesinier was persona-non-grata in France, taking refuge in Switzerland until the restoration of the French Republic in 1870. He participated in the uprising in 1871, launching a newspaper entitled "Paris Libre," and was elected to the Council of the Commune representing the First Arrondissement. After the commune was overthrown, he fled to London, when he wrote this personal history of the conflict. Though written and initially published in French, that edition was also published in London by Chapman and Hall (as naurally no French publisher would have been willing to risk publishing such a vehement defense of the commune in the immediate wake of its defeat). Both the French and English language editions seem to be genuinely scarce; we traced the last apperance of the English edition in commerce to an 1896 Bangs catalogue (whose description makes no mention of a map). OCLC results are hopelessly muddled, with physical and digital-only holdings difficult to distinguish. Seller Inventory # 11602

Bibliographic Details

Title: History of the Commune of Paris

Publisher: Chapman and Hall, London

Publication Date: 1872

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very good

Edition: First English Language Edition.