AMERICANA. - Constitutions of the thirteen United... Lot 3

AMERICANA. - Constitutions of the thirteen United States of America. Philadelphia, Et se trouve à Pars, Ph.-D. Pierres, Pissot, 1783. In-8, marbled basane, ornate smooth spine, red title page, blue speckled edges (Binding of the period). Rare first edition in French of the Constitutions of the thirteen United States of America, published the same year as the Treaty of Paris, which officially proclaimed the independence of the U.S. (Sabin, n°16118.) Translated by the Duc de La Rochefoucauld, it contains the constitution of each of the thirteen states, the declaration of independence, the articles of confederation between the states, the treaties between the King and the United States of America, and the three treaties of friendship and commerce concluded by the United States with France, Sweden and the Netherlands. The title page features the Great Seal of the United States, depicting an eagle with outstretched wings holding thirteen arrows in a claw and surmounted by thirteen stars: the first time this seal has appeared in a printed book ("on title the United States seal... its first appearance in a book", Howes C716). Non-missing transverse tear to folio Cc8, small worm mark at the bottom of about ten folios. Epidermures, small skin tears on the first cover, slight tear to the upper cover.