[SIEYÈS (Emmanuel-Joseph). What is the Third Estate? Third edition. S.l. [Paris], 1789. - In-8, unbound, in modern paper cover. Third edition of the four published in a few weeks, of this pamphlet that has become a classic of European political literature. It is the work of Abbé Sieyès (1748-1836), vicar general of Chartres and revolutionary theorist, who published it in January 1789 at the time of the electoral campaign preceding the convocation of the Estates General. "The work was to embody the radical demands of a Third State all the more impatient to emancipate itself because it is conceived here as being the expression of the entire nation" (En français dans le texte, 186). It is famous in particular because of its incipit giving the plan and the contents of the work: "1°. What is the Third Estate? ALL. 2°. What has it been up to now in the political order? NOTHING. 3°. What does it ask? To become SOMETHING. According to Jacques T. Quentin, with this text Sieyès became "the inventor of modern representation and of a political practice on which we have not ceased to live. In this respect, he is one of the fathers of our public law" (In French in the text). Unbound copy, in modern cover.