Affaire Maurice Joly (Dialogues aux Enfers entre Montesquieu et Machiavel): Dossier of Manuscript and Printed Documents, 1865–1880.

Object Type: Manuscript and printed dossier
Medium: Ink on wove paper; letterpress print
Date Range: 1865–1880
Language: French
Extent: 1 dossier of 11 items (14 manuscript pages, 4 printed pages, 2 ephemera)
Dimensions: Primarily 230 × 180 mm and 310 × 237 mm (see individual descriptions)

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Description:
A composite archival dossier documenting the prosecution and legacy of Maurice Joly’s Dialogues aux Enfers entre Montesquieu et Machiavel, consisting of an anonymous legal manuscript, a printed court judgment, a retrospective press article, and a name slip. These materials illuminate the censorship, legal reasoning, and political stakes surrounding the 1865 trial, and trace the continued reception of Joly’s work and fate into the 1880s.

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I. Anonymous Legal Manuscript Commentary on Dialogues aux Enfers (1865)

Contents:

• Two bifolia and three single sheets of cream wove paper, 230 × 180 mm, folded vertically (full sheet width c. 360 mm).

• 14 pages in brown ink, unsigned and unattributed.

• Neat legal cursive hand, not matching Maurice Joly’s.

Description:
A 14-page manuscript written in brown ink on cream wove paper (two bifolia and three single sheets, each 230 × 180 mm folded vertically), offering a detailed legal commentary on Maurice Joly’s Dialogues aux Enfers entre Montesquieu et Machiavel. The text quotes numerous passages deemed politically subversive and aligns them with specific violations of the press laws of 17 May and 26 May 1819. The formal tone, legal vocabulary (faits incriminés, concours personnel, publication interdite), and absence of any mitigating argumentation suggest a prosecutorial or censorship-office origin, possibly a preparatory memorandum for use in the 1865 trial.

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II. Printed Judgment (c. 1865)

Format:

• Four-page galley proof, uncut, printed on cream wove paper

• Folded size approx. 310 × 237 mm; open: 310 × 475 mm

Title: Jugement

Description:
Proof impression of the full verdict issued by the Tribunal correctionnel de la Seine against Maurice Joly and his associate Grandjean, for the clandestine importation and dissemination of 500 copies of Dialogues aux Enfers printed in Brussels. The judgment confirms the seizure of the edition, sentencing Joly to 15 days’ imprisonment and a 200-franc fine. The document contains editorial annotations and strike-throughs typical of pre-publication proofs (épreuves en placard), likely intended for internal or official circulation.

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III. Press Clipping: Le Figaro, 16 January 1880

Author: Pierre Quiroule
Title: L’Autopsie d’un Suicidé
Source: Le Figaro, 16 janvier 1880, p. 1
Format: Vertical press clipping; approx. 415 × 260 mm (trimmed)
Paper: Newsprint, lightly browned

Description:
Article titled “L’Autopsie d’un Suicidé” by Pierre Quiroule (pseudonym of Louis Poupart-Davyl, 1835–1890), French writer and printer. Trimmed press clipping from page 1 of Le Figaro, printed on lightly browned newsprint (approx. 415 × 260 mm).

Résumé en français : Dans cet article rétrospectif, Pierre Quiroule revient sur la personnalité et le destin tragique de Maurice Joly, qu’il avait connu personnellement. Il décrit un homme hypersensible, mélancolique, doué d’un esprit caustique mais souffrant d’une lucidité paralysante. Joly est présenté comme un avocat et publiciste brillant, ruiné par ses échecs politiques et ses tentatives d’entrer dans la vie parlementaire. L’auteur évoque leur première rencontre, la publication clandestine des Dialogues aux Enfers, son procès, et son isolement progressif. Joly, selon lui, était hanté par la médiocrité ambiante et par le manque de reconnaissance. L’article se termine sur une réflexion amère sur la fatalité des tempéraments inadaptés à la vie politique du temps, et sur l’indifférence du monde envers ceux qui, comme Joly, se consument en silence.

Summary in English: In this retrospective piece, Pierre Quiroule reflects on the tragic life of Maurice Joly, whom he had personally known. He portrays Joly as a hypersensitive and melancholy figure, gifted with biting wit but paralyzed by his own clear-sightedness. Joly emerges as a brilliant lawyer and polemicist, undone by his political failures and repeated attempts to enter parliamentary life. The author recounts their first meeting, the clandestine publication of Dialogues aux Enfers, the subsequent trial, and Joly’s growing isolation. He describes a man tormented by mediocrity and lack of recognition. The article closes with a bitter meditation on the fate of those temperamentally unsuited to the political realities of their time, and on society’s indifference to those who, like Joly, burn themselves out in silence.

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IV. Manuscript Name Slip

Material: Cream wove paper
Size: 90 × 227 mm
Ink inscription: “Jolly Maurice” (bold, likely contemporary to Joly)
Pencil annotation (modern hand): “Jolly Maurice / avocat et publiciste / vers 1839”

Note: Possibly extracted from an archival file or album. No watermark visible.

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Summary & Significance:

This dossier documents multiple phases of the Affaire Joly: from the legal reasoning used to suppress the Dialogues, through the formal ruling of the court, to later public reflection on Joly’s fate. The anonymous manuscript offers rare insight into the internal machinery of censorship or prosecution, while the printed judgment and press coverage situate the case within the broader cultural and political context of the Second Empire. The ensemble provides valuable evidence of how subversive literature was pursued, interpreted, and remembered in 19th-century France.

Subjects:

• Joly, Maurice (French, 1829–1878)

• Dialogues aux Enfers entre Montesquieu et Machiavel (book)

• Political prosecution — France — 19th century

• Censorship — France — Second Empire

• Freedom of the press — Legal aspects — France

• Satire, French — Political aspects

• Trials (Political crimes) — France — 1860s

• Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, 1808–1873 — Public opinion

• Historical ephemera — France

• Galley proofs (Printing)

• Legal manuscripts — France