Details

Subjects:

Accounting -- France -- 18th century.
Accounting.
France -- Economic conditions -- 18th century.
France.
Economic conditions.
France -- Social conditions -- 18th century.
Social conditions.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Accounts.
Manuscripts, French.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

French.

Summary:

Accounts of the housekeeper or governess for the aristocratic St.-Olympe family, mostly in connection with Madame de St.-Olympe's three daughters from an earlier marriage (Blanche, Popotte, and Antoinette, the demoiselles de Longpré) and her infant daughter with Jean-Baptiste César du Buc de St.-Olympe, whom she had married in 1783 (Musinsky). The family's primary residence was in Bonsecours, near Rouen. Expenses include materials for clothing and payments to couturiers; educational materials, payments to tutors, and boarding costs at a convent; postage; coaches; flowers; sweets; medicinal and cosmetic supplies; and portraits of the girls. One entry records the purchase of the new translation (by Blavet) of Adam Smith's Wealth of nations (f. 19v). The final leaves of the manuscript (f. 40r-41r) are used to record money received, mainly from M. Lefebvre.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from cover title, where attribution is added in a second contemporary hand.
Collation: Paper, 42; 1⁴²; [1-42], modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto (f. 28-39 ruled but blank).
Layout: Written in 5 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead: a small column on the left for the date, a large central column for brief descriptions of expenses, and 3 small columns for the expense amounts in livres, sols, and deniers.
Script: Written in cursive script in the hand of Mademoiselle Poncelet.
Watermark: Crown supported by a fleur-de-lis [?].
Binding: Paper wrapper, stab-stitched with silk ribbon.
Origin: Probably written in Bonsecours, between July 1786 (f. 1r) and August 1788 (f. 25v).

Local notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Musinsky Rare Books (New York), cat. 2 (2011), no. 48.

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1615

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

OCLC:

773195173

Web link:

The Rosengarten Family Fund Home Page