François-Nicolas Mollien (1758-1850) is not the best known of the great public servants of the Empire. And unjustly so, since the Minister of the Treasury (“ministre du Trésor public”) laid the foundations of the French public financial system as we know it today. As the manager of the “Caisse d’amortissement” from 29 November 1799, he kept Napoleon informed on the mechanics of public finances, credits and banks. He introduced the double-entry bookkeeping system (based on the commercial model) into public accounting, as well as reorganising the Treasury and the general flow of funds so that the interests of accountants and the treasury would coincide, instead of contradicting. Mollien also provided a safe pair of hands for the development of the Banque de France and the creation of the “Cour des comptes”. Though not one of the Emperor closest collaborators, he was nevertheless a leading figure of the Empire and was also a prime witness of the period.

This critical edition (in French) of Mollien’s Memoirs is annotated by David Lionel Jauneau under the direction of Matthew Oliveira, (Comité pour l’histoire économique et financière de la France Éditions, Ministère des Finances et des comptes publics, Ministère de l’Économie, de l’Industrie et du Numérique).

This reissue of the Memoirs of Count Mollien, Minister of the Treasury from 1806 to 1815, is a valuable contribution to the understanding of the history of the First Empire, and in particular from a financial perspective. It not only makes public for the first time the text of the 1837 edition of his memoirs (which Mollien had reserved for his close acquaintances), but also underlines the changes he had made to that edition, partly for political reasons, in the second edition that he published during his lifetime in 1845.

Pre-order form (until 31 October, 2015) for the first (1758-1805) and second (1806-1809) volumes (to be published in December 2015 and January 2016)

Volumes 3 (from 1810 to 1815) and 4 (Pensées et opinions, et Rapports de la Chambre des pairs) are due to be published in June 2016.

This work is published with the support of the Fondation Napoléon.