Beschreibung:

MARIE ANTOINETTE, Queen of France (1774-1793)]. PARIS COMMUNE - Document signed by Boucher-Ren, Michonis, Mercereau, Baudoit and members of the Commune and commissioners at the Prison du Temple, '18 Janvier, an 2 de la Republique' [18 January 1793], page, folio , printed heading and vignette of the 'Commune de Paris', contemporary endorsement on verso of integral leaf (tear in centre fold from upper margin). MIRABEAU, Honor-Gabriel-Riqueti, Comte de (1749-1791). Autograph letter signed to Monsieur Boucher, n.p. [Vincennes prison], 22 December 1779, one page, 8vo , annotated in a later hand in red ink in upper and lower margins, integral leaf cut away (traces of tape on verso). FOUQUIER-TINVILLE, Antoine-Quentin (1746-1795). Autograph letter signed ('A.Q. Fouquier') to 'ma bonne amie' (his wife), n.p. [Paris], n.d. [April/May 1795], one page, 8vo . BARRAS, Paul-Franois, Vicomte de (1755-1829). Two autograph letters signed to Victor [....], Marseilles, 'le 28 pluviose an 13' [17 February 1805], and Montpellier, 24 January 1810, together 6 pages, 4to (small seal tear in first letter, the second with address panel and traces of seal). The council of the Paris Commune authorises Citizen Lafage to supply a syringe for the Queen, 'a fournir une seringue Marie-Antoinette, charge par lui de tenir compte du pois de la mauvaise seringue qu'il remporte', also to repair two screens which were in the women's apartments. The Royal Family had been imprisoned in the Temple since August 1792, and, deprived of their servants and courtiers, were dependent upon the members of the Commune for any services. Marie Antoinette was permitted to see Louis XVI for the last time two days after the present document was signed, his execution following on January 21. The signatory Michonis, Inspector of Prisons, was liberally bribed in the attempt by the Baron de Batz to rescue the Queen six months later. She was executed on October 16. Mirabeau, imprisoned at Vincennes following his arrest with his mistress, Sophie de Ruffey, Marquis de Monnier, in 1777, writes with reference to the completion of his Receuil de Contes (published in London in 1780), suggesting that the frontispiece be improved, mentioning also the Marquise, and requesting news of his daughter. Fouquier-Tinville, also writing from prison, refers to two witnesses who did not appear, and to other matters relating to his trial (by the Convention). The process took forty-one days, and two hundred witnesses were called. As Public Prosecutor, he had presided over Marie Antoinette's trial by the Revolutionary Tribunal. Barras, who was justly suspected by Napoleon of intriguing with the royalists, was exiled from Paris until after the Restoration. He went first to Marseilles in 1805, and was later arrested in Turin before being permitted to reside at Montpellier. The present letters to a friend, apparently his agent in Paris, discuss mainly financial matters, with enquiries and messages relating to other associates. (5)