DU FRESNE DE FRANCHEVILLE (Joseph).Histoire générale et particulière des finances, où l'on voit l'origine, l'établissement, la perception & la Régie de toutes les Impositions: dressée sur les pièces autentiques.Paris: De Bure l'aîné, 1738. - 3 volumes in-4, 255 x 200 : (3 ff.), viij pp., (3 ff.), 938 pp., (1 f.) ; (2 ff.), 1022 pp., (1 f.) ; (12 ff.), 660 pp., (1 f.). Original and unique edition, dedicated to Philibert Orry (1689-1747), Controller General of Finances, of this major work on the financial history of France. This essential source is the work of the poet and historian Joseph Du Fresne de Francheville (1704-1781), a member of the Berlin Academy and a close friend of Voltaire. Initially intended as a complete history of French finances in forty volumes, only this trilogy was published, in response to practical issues relating to the customs tariff. Volume 1 presents the 1664 tariff for exports, with a historical introduction tracing customs duties since 1304. The hundreds of goods taxed (books, clothing, medicines, gold, ivory, jewellery, weapons, animals, etc.) are listed in alphabetical order. The second volume details the import tariffs, using the same rigorous methodology. The third volume is devoted entirely to the French East India Company, under the title "Histoire de la Compagnie des Indes avec les titres de ses concessions et privilèges". This particularly valuable volume brings together official documents and private memoirs from 1604 to 1737 (pp. 159-602), supplemented by a chronological index of facts, alphabetical indexes (subjects, geographical names, persons), and numerous references to Asia and America. A fine copy in contemporary binding. Private library label at the top of the spines. Some light spotting not serious.