Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen
Content Description
This collection contains a leather-bound handwritten manuscript copy of the 1789 Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen, comprising the preamble and all seventeen articles, produced by Jenny Ricard, a fourteen-year-old girl from Nîmes, France. Stamped on the front and back binding is "LA LOI" and "LE ROI" in gilt. The text is written in brown ink throughout, with decorative titles and section headings rendered in red ink and red capitals. The manuscript is signed at the end: "Nîmes le 9 M[ars] 1792." Endpapers are painted red, with two notes of authorship on the initial blank, one in red ink and one in black ink. Two explanatory notes appear on the first blank leaf, written in red and black ink respectively. The first, in red ink, was written by Ernest Constant, who noted that the book was written by Jenny Michel née Ricard, his maternal grandmother, and reads: "Ce livre a été écrit par ma grand mère maternelle...Elle avait 13 ans." A second note beneath it in black ink further identifies Jenny and her family connections to Nîmes and Cette, and records her death on February 12, 1777, at the age of 70.
Dates
- Creation: 1792
Creator
- Michel, Jenny Ricard (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection has been minimally processed and is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Library believes that all or nearly all material in this collection is likely to be in the public domain, free of copyright restrictions. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials. NoC-US: No Copyright - United States: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Full Extent
0.03 Cubic Feet (One letter-size file folder)
Language of Materials
French
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license. The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library of the University of Virginia makes its bibliographic records and the metadata contained therein available for public use under the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Designation.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was purchased from Amanda Hall by the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on 4 March 2026.
Condition Description
Good
Source
- Amanda Hall Rare Books (Organization)
- Title
- Declaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen
- Author
- Eric Willersdorf, Student Accessioning Assistant
- Date
- 13 April 2026
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Repository
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
P.O. Box 400110
University of Virginia
Charlottesville Virginia 22904-4110 United States