GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS. POWYS MATHERS, E. ~ Maxims and Considerations of Chamfort.
Two volumes. No. 85 of 550 copies. Titles printed in blue throughout with red owl device on title pages. Printed on English handmade paper in Caslon O.F. type. 8vo., parchment backed blue paper covered boards, gilt lettering on spines, in the original dust jackets. A little browning to pastedowns, dust jacket with a few small tears but generally very good, unopened copies.
Chamfort was an extraordinary man who was secretary to Louis XVI’s sister, a member of the Jacobins and when the French Revolution went sour spoke out which led to his arrest and he died of the effects of his desperate attempts at suicide.
Chamfort’s maxims, which were highly praised by John Stuart Mill, are seen as some of the best of their time and they are entirely applicable to today.For example - No. 84: ”Your intelligence often bears the same relation to your heart as the library of a château does to its owner”, and no. 331: “There aren't many benefactors who don't say, like Satan: ‘All these things will I give you if you bow down and worship me.’”