LACHAUSSÉE M. de Tarif pour faciliter les décomptes de Messieurs les Officiers de la Marine et autres gens de mer, pour leurs Appointemens et Solde par Mois tant à la Mer qu’à Terre.

Finely calligraphed 18th century manuscript, with a calculation on the appointmentand salary of officers and seafarers.

Elegantly written the book opens with a superbe original drawnd and coloured fronsitpiece, signed by De Lachaussée. The allegoric theme shows Time pointing to two young ladies holding a draperie bearing the title. It could well be Jean-François Delachaussée, painter and miniature artist, close to the royal Orléans family.

Each page is divied into two calculation tables, all within larger red and brown frame, withing larger squares bearing the respective calculations. The tables would give the correct pay according to a monthly salary ranging from 1 livre to 6000 livres.

The manuscript concludes with the table of calculation on the percentage taken off the pay to benefit Marine Invalids.

This manuscript is lavishly bound in red morocco and decorated with a very fine dentelle which could be attributeted to the master binder Derome; one of the tools included is the so called 'fer à l'oiseau' which the binder often used, along with musical instruments including a lyre, an arrow and a trumpet.

The quality of the manuscritp indicates that it would have been written for a high ranking personality within the administration of the Marine and his coat of arms would have been on the center of the covers. During the French Revolution this aristocratic attribute has been taken off and has been replaced by what is possibly one of the most handsome and decoratif attributs: it depicts Liberty in front of large maritime fortress and a sailing ship.