Description:

Lavoisier Antoine

Antoine Lavoisier, "Father of Chemistry", ADS from the French Revolution

 

1p French Revolutionary-era document in French signed by celebrated chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) as "Lavoisier" at lower right. Written in Paris, France on July 18, 1791. On watermarked cream laid bifold paper inscribed overall in flawless secretarial script. Docketed along the left margin. The remaining pages are blank. Expected paper folds and light overall toning, else very good to near fine. 7.75" x 12.375".

 

Lavoisier--even during his brief lifetime--was renowned for his contributions to the modern field of chemistry. Here, however, he was functioning in his role as Commissioner of the National Treasury. The document was also co-signed by three other Commissioners of the National Treasury: Nicolas de Condorcet (1743-1794) as "Condorcet"; Cornut de la Fontaine as "De la fontaine"; and Dutramblay as "Dutramblay".

 

The document concerned 480,000 livres of expenses categorized as "frais du culte" (literally, "worship fees") or expenses relating to the practice of institutionalized religion (salary for clergy, care of orphans, maintenance of hospitals, etc.) This sum was accrued during the April and July trimesters of 1791 by the Department of Paris.

 

Translated in part:

 

"We have received, Sirs, the letter that you have given us the honor to write, relative to two sums of 180 and 300 thousand livres for which the Department of Paris was comprised in the two distributions of the trimesters of April and July, concerning worship fees…"

 

The document continued by outlining when payment would be issued by the National Treasury, and in what form. In the second paragraph, it also gave explicit instructions for filling out printed forms issued by the National Treasury so that expenses could be accurately allocated, tracked, and paid.

 

Antoine Lavoisier was referred to as "the father of chemistry" because he codified, quantified, and advanced our understanding of the material sciences. Lavoisier "discovered" and named two of the most basic elements, oxygen and hydrogen, in 1778 and 1783 respectively. He also compiled a list of elements that would later form the periodic table, and helped implement the metric system. One can only speculate what further discoveries Lavoisier would have made if he had not been executed. As one contemporary remarked: "It took them only an instant to cut off this head, and one hundred years might not suffice to reproduce its like."

 

In this way, the document serves as a brutal testament to the violence, unpredictability, and vagaries of the French Revolution. Less than three years later, two of the National Commissioners who signed this document would be dead. Lavoisier, who was also an aristocrat and a tax collector, was ousted from several post-monarchial government posts, and then guillotined for tax fraud in May 1794. Nicolas de Condorcet, Lavoisier's colleague, was charged with treason and later died in prison under mysterious circumstances in March 1794.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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