Charles-Chrétien-Henri MARC. Forensic examination of the cau - Lot 152

Lot 152
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Charles-Chrétien-Henri MARC. Forensic examination of the cau - Lot 152
Charles-Chrétien-Henri MARC. Forensic examination of the causes of death of H.R.H. the Prince de Condé. Paris, Crochard, Delaunay, Mesnier, 1831. Volume in-8 of 88 pages, marbled half-basane, smooth spine with long title, first cover plate preserved, speckled edges, copy with wide margins. Some crippled freckles and spots, angular wetness on the last leaves, small epiderminations (old binding). Medical report which gathers the testimonies of the doctors having practised an expertise on the body of the last prince of Condé, found hanging from the espagnolette of a window of his castle of Saint-Leu, his feet nevertheless touching the ground. This study, requested for further investigation, concludes that the prince committed suicide and thwarts the suspicions of murder that weighed on the ambiguous Baroness de Feuchères. The latter, initially a servant in a brothel and now entirely mistress of Condé, is said to have fomented the death of the prince, whose landed fortune was the largest in the whole kingdom; according to another more generally accepted theory, she introduced the prince to the practice of strangulation as a sexual stimulant. This account, presented as factual, was one of the twists and turns in this mysterious and still debated case. The volume is illustrated with 6 off-text plates showing curious scenes of suicide by hanging in various circumstances, the reproduction of a farewell letter from the Prince de Condé found torn in his study and singular graphs quantifying the suicides by gun and hanging, by age group and according to the time of day.
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