Tableau des empires ou notions sur les gouvernements

In -8°, pp. XXII, 120, 128, 148, 148. Mezza pelle con titolo e ornamenti al dorso. Libro non banale, scritto da un autore molto popolare all’epoca anche se poi quasi dimenticato: Mercier (Parigi 1740-1814), autore di commedie e saggi di argomento fortemente repubblicano, dové fuggire in Svizzera negli anni precedenti alla Rivoluzione, proprio per il contenuto sovversivo dei suoi scritti. Fra questi “L’an 2240” (del 1781), considerato fra i precursori del romanzo di fantascienza. An interesting book, written by a then very popular french author: Mercier (1740-1814), the author of comedies and writings with a very republican content, was forced to emigrate from France to Switzerland, because of the subversive content of his publications. This book was published the year before the French Revolution, after which Mercier could go back to Paris. Mercier is also considered a forerunner of the science fiction, since he wrote a novel, in 1781, called “L’an 2240” in which he imagined the life in XXIV Century, ruled by a utopistic concept of coexistence.