A l issue de la guerre de Sept Ans, le controleur general des finances Bertin decida la realisation d un cadastre general du royaume, premier et nouvel instrument de la resolution de la grave crise financiere du moment. Dans ce livre, Antonella Alimento reconstruit la genese de ce projet, a travers l etude minutieuse du savoir technique et de la culture politique de trois personnages-cles, proches du ministre: l intendant des finances d Ormesson, le premier commis d Ailly et le futur controleur general des finances Turgot, alors intendant de Limousin. Si la divergence de leurs choix...

Analysing bilateral commercial treaties as instruments of peace and trade comparatively and over time, this book focuses on treaties as an index of the challenges of 18th-century European politics, shaping a new understanding of these challenges and of how they were confronted at the time in theory and diplomatic practice.

This edited collection explores the histories of trade, a peculiar literary genre that emerged in the context of the historiographical and cultural changes promoted by thehistoire philosophiquemovement. It marked a discontinuity with erudition and antiquarianism, and interacted critically with universal history. By comparing and linking the histories of individual peoples within a common historical process, this genre enriched the reflection on civilisation that emerged during the long eighteenth century. Those who looked to the past wanted to understand the political constitutions and...