Author's presentation copy. A fabulous association copy of Bentham's scarce essay on the freedom of the press, presented by the author to the French liberal politician, 'Mr. Le Marquis D'Argenson &c &c &c'.

D'Argenson (1771-1842) was born into a prominent family, whose members had served as Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs and for War under Louis XV. By contrast D'Argenson was himself a Bonapartist, and acting as aide-de-camp to Lafayette during his youth, before serving as Prefect of Deux-Nèthes during Napoleon's reign.

Following the Second Bourbon Restoration, D'Argenson was elected to the Chambre Introuvable, where his liberal views and ardent republicanism put him at odds with the royalist-dominated chamber. He later returned as a Deputy under the Martignac ministry in 1828, where he 'resolutely persisted in his championship of the liberty of the press and of public worship' (Encylopaedia Britannica). Following the death of his wife, he renounced his own mandate and hailed the July Revolution of 1830, later joining the French republican Société des droits de l'homme, whose roots lay in the Jacobin movement.

Bentham (1748-1832) planned the essay in response to laws passed by the Cortes of Spain during the brief rule of the Trienio Liberal, which limited freedom of speech and discussion, and led to the arrest of his Spanish translator José Joaquín de Mora. Bentham's hopes to help codify Spanish law during this period of liberal revival were dashed in 1823 with the Bourbon-led invasion of Spain and subsequent restoration of Ferdinand VII to absolute rule.

An uncommon work not recorded in the Kress library, and all the rarer with the author's presentation inscription.

First edition; author's presentation copy; 8vo (23 x 14.5 cm); inscribed in pen in secretarial hand to title upper-margin; unbound, top-edge unopened pp[9]-36, fore-edge untrimmed, housed in custom-made calf-backed marbled paper portfolio case; [3], iv-vi, [1], 10-38pp.

Goldsmith 23351; not in Kress.