Catalogue information
Author: M. Coustard de Massi, Anne-Pierre
Published: 1770
Publisher: Poultry, J. Walter Charing-Cross and J. Robinson in New Bond Street. Located and published in London.
Bookseller: E and C Dilly
Book Description: A blue cover, paste down. The pages are stained with age, with folios added to both ends of the book. In the folios are newspaper clippings with handwritten notes.
MSU Call Number: XX CR4575.c63
Subject Headings: duels, history, honor, France, England
Anne Pierre Coustard de Massi
The author of this book was Anne Pierre Coustard de Massi, he was born in February 4th, 1741 in a French colony. He died in Paris in 1793. Massi was a creole from Saint-Domingue, and he was the son of a militia officer. He worked in the military, before he was appointed to the King’s Guard, and then in the king’s Musketeers. He fathered 7 children, became a lieutenant, and was made knight of the royal military order. He devoted time to writing books like the one above, a poem, and a satirical play.
The Book Itself
There are few handwritten notes in the book itself, the content of the book is left alone. The author addresses the history of dueling, fencing, sharing anecdotes that go along with the topic.
Contents aside there are two folios added to the book. One at the beginning and one at the end. They are a different size to the book, and seem to have been added so that the previous owners could add what they wish to the book. It is in those folios I found news articles dating back as far as prior to the publishing of this book.
At some point in the book, someone had attached another (what can be assumed to be) news article, but it was removed. There is also a folded picture of a fight, though I could not track down the publisher or the one who requested it.
How the articles are related to the book
The following articles found in the book involved Dueling in some way. There are a variety of dueling methods used, including but not limited to the use of guns and swords.
There are articles that appeared in the folio at the front and back of the book, and the ones pastes onto the cover of the book. Their content is restricted to dueling, either with recounting a duel, the consequences of a duel, verdicts, and more. The folios were added to the book, as their pages were visibly smaller, and were more roughly cut in comparison to the pages in the book itself. Some of the articles were pasted onto the pages if the book, but when that happened it can be safe to say they did not cover up any important information. The content of the book, and overall original folios were left uninterrupted.
In an article provided by Professor Brockey, it was stated that for the” first several decades of the nineteenth century, clerics, moralists and newspapers all
bemoaned the continuation of what they described as a barbaric or Gothic practice: the duel of honor”( Andrew 1). The article discusses how despite the demand for change, there were no new laws to stop dueling from happened. Newspapers went as far as hiding the name of the people participating in the duels as in the earlier years. That can be seen in some of the following articles, as I could not get enough information to narrow down the month, and at one point the year.
Newspapers had published “private” letters, verdict results, the location of the duels, and sometimes the days and times it took place. In spite of newspapers publishing whatever information they had on hand about duels, we could not properly estimate the accuracy of the frequency of the duels had back then. The following section is the news articles, organized by publication (with missing information not withstanding), constructing a loose timeline of how they correlated to the publication of the book.
Time line of publication and arrivals
At this point in time, a previous owner of the book had gone out of their way to collect newspaper clippings dating back years prior to the publication of the book itself! With some of the articles dating back over 40 years before the book was published. One news article in particular was dated 12 years prior to the Mr. Coustard de Massi being born.
Resentful writer: I could not find the date, year, or publication of this article.
Carnegie Finhaven: This article was dated to have been published in 1728, I estimate that this transpired sometime between early May to mid-August. I could not find the exact date or publication, but the Earl’s death was confirmed to be in May of that year.
Covent-Garden: This article is estimated to have been published between November 1728 and December 1728
Andrews and Lee: This article can be assumed to have been taken from The Daily Gazetteer. It was published on Mon, Aug 8th, 1735.
Newington Butts: This article was dated 1741. I could not find the paper that had published it, nor the estimated timeline.
Brothers Falling Out: This article was dated 1741, but the newspaper and date of publication could not be estimated with the details given.
Vauxhall Array: This article was dated 1741. Despite the searching, there was no lead to the exact date and publication that this article originated from.
Suffer Amputation: This article was dated 1741, I could not find the publication date and article.
Letter to the Captain: I could not find the exact date or publication for this paper. It was dated 1751, and I could not narrow it down.
Changing her name: In this article, the Viscountess Du Barre was trying to change her name two years after her husband was killed in a duel. His family were trying to sue her for the offense they felt. I could not find the actual date of this article nor the publication.
Midnight Duel: This article can be estimated to have been published in late May of 1751.
Vindication of an innocent lady: This article is estimated to have been published in early June of 1751.
Duel at Star and Garter Tavern: This article is estimated to have been published in late January-early February of 1765.
Friday 7: I could not track down this article’s date and time. It was published sometime in 1765.
Capt. James and Maj. Alderton: This article is estimated to have been published in late September of 1765
Captains and Lieutenants: This article is estimated to have been published in mid-October 1765
Tuesday 19: This article is estimated to have been published in late November, early December of 1765.
Sunday Duel: This article is believed to have been published in late January, 1766.
Duel between Clergymen: This article is estimated to have been published in late June, 1766.
To the Author: In the letter to the Author of the London Magazine, it can be estimated to have been published early October of 1766.
Lombard street: This article was published in 1769, but I could not track down the exact day and time.
Opera House: This article was dated 1769, I could not locate the actual article or the estimated publication date.
1770: The book was published this year.
Dueling at Merrion Square: This article was dated 1771, after searching I could not find the exact date or paper that had published this article.
Lambeth: I could not find the publication date for this article, or the publisher. Only the year was available, as it was written on the article. 1771.
Dr. Shee: This article was dated May 4 1771. I could not find the publication.
Duel between student and officer: This article was not found. It was assumed to have been published in 1775, outside of that nothing was found.
Former Achilles: This article was not found. The only date was the one on the paper, 1776.
Fitzgerald and Bags: This article is estimated to have been published in December of 1776.
Count D’ Artois: Estimated to have been published in March, 1778.
King’s Bench in Ireland: This article is estimated to have been published in Mid November, 1779.
Mr. Fox and Mr. Adam: This article is estimated to have been published in early December, 1779.
Duke of York and Colonel Lenox: This Article can be estimated to have been published in late May-early June in 1789. The best estimation is that it was published under Saunders’s News-Letter on June 1st, 1789
Fight for Farm Boy: This article was published under The Public Advertiser, Wed. Feb. 03, 1790, page 3
Unforeseen Fatality: I could not locate the exact newspaper that this article had originated from. It was dated to have been published in 1790. This article could have been published in late June-July of that year. I suspect that it was published under the “The Public Advertiser” due to finding another article that had the same formatting, wording, set up, and theme. A duel between two other people resulting in death.
It was Painful: This article was published in the Chester Chronical and Cheshire and North Wales General Advertiser on Friday, Oct 15th, 1790, page three.
Blackheath: This article was dated 1791, the estimated time of publication is late-July of 1791. The exact publication and date could not be found.
Kemble and Alkin: This article was published in March of 1792. The estimated publication days are 01-10 of March. The exact publication could not be found.
Duel at Lexden Heath: This article is estimated to have been published in early June, 1797.
Captain Smith: This article was dated August, 1797. I estimate it was published between the 10-20th of August.
Fladong’s Hotel: This article was dated Oct. 1797. It is estimated that it was published in early October. The last picture is the inverted version of the first picture in the Gallery.
Ryder and Tierney: This article was dated May 1798. It is estimated that this article was published in late may-early June.
Harvey Aston and Major Allen: The article was dated 1798, but all the sources founded were dated 1799. The time estimate for this article is June 1799.
Lord Camelford: This article was dated March 11, 1804. I believe it was published under Johnson’s Sunday Monitor.
- Pt2: This article is assumed to have been published under the same newspaper as the above. At the same date. Source.
- Pt 3: This article is believed to have been published on the 13th of March 1804, in the Morning Chronicle.
- Pt 4: This article was published in March 13th, 1804, under the morning chronicle.
Sir F. Burdett and Mr. Paul: This article was dated May 16, 1807. I assume it was published in the Morning Article.
James Elmes: This article was dated for April but the publications I could find with this article was for March, in 1809.
French Prisoners: This article was dated April 1813, it is estimated it was published in 20-27of April.
Alley and Adolphus: This article is estimated to have been published in late November of 1816.
Fatal Duel: This article was published in January 1818 between the 13th and 29th. I believe it was published in “The News” due to the back piece of the article. In it we can see a piece of the paper’s title, date, and subheading.
Wilful Murder-Sterling: This article can be estimated to have been published in January 1818.
O’Callaghan Duel: This article was published on Mon, January 19th, 1818. It was published under “The News (London).”
Arrested for Dueling: The estimated time this article was published was In February 1818. The exact newspaper to publish it was not found.
Charged with Manslaughter: This article can be estimated to have been published sometime in mid-March 1818. The exact paper could not be found, the only paper to have the exact wording as the one pictured is the Leicester Chronicle. Which was published on Sat, Mar 21, 1818.
Attempted Assassination: This article was published under the Lancaster Gazette on Sat. Jul 11, 1818, page 1.
Count and English officer: This newspaper clipping could not be found. But it can be estimated that this was published between Early July 1818 and Mid July 1818.
Contemplating a duel: This article was published in September 13th, 1818 in “The News (London)”. Under the “Tuesdays London Gazette.”
Lord Belgrave: This article was published on Thursday, October 29th, 1818, under the English Chronicle and Whitehall Evening Post.
Hackney Coach: This article could not be found. I estimate this was published in 1818, due to the fact that it was put in the same page as the other 1818 articles.
A night before a Duel: It can be estimated that it was published sometime between Mid-August 1843 to Late April 1844.
Members of Canterbury: It was published under the Observer on Mon. May 31st, 1852. Recounting a duel that broke out between two people present for the use of “unfair means.”
Fighting Authoress: This was publish in the The Newcastle at Weekly Chronicle, Sat, Sept. 4th, 1869, Page 3.
The Schmitters
Charles Schmitter was a fencing coach at Michigan State university. He and his wife, Ruth, in 1964 had donated their fencing collection. The collection included over 400 titles in 13 languages spanning 5 centuries.
Michigan State University
In 1964 the book came to Michigan State University, it has remained there until the publication of this page.
The Signature
The book contains a signature that can be read one of two ways: “If Irvine” and “F. Irving.” Despite thorough searching on my professors, peers, and my part, the owner of the signature could not be found.
The following are pictures of the book and news articles as they were found in the book.
The following are extra pictures taken of the book.
This was worked on by Daniah Abdulsalam. 2025 for History 475, for Prof. Brockey and Mr. Tad Boehmer.
Sources used
While working on this project, I primarily used three websites. British News Archive, Newspapers, MSU Library, and an article provided by Professor Brockey.
