Broadside.- Water wells at the notorious Bicêtre Hospital.- Puits de la Maison de Bicêtre, Dépendente de l'Hopital-Général de Paris, a l'époque du 9 Septembre 1782, contemporary ink inscription verso (trimmed), a few minute holes, some mostly light soiling / foxing, little staining, trimmed, 224 x 168mm., [Paris], Widow Thiboust, Place Cambrai, [c.1782].

⁂ Seemingly unrecorded broadside giving a detailed account of the technical and operational elements of three water wells at the notorious Bicêtre Hospital, which simultaneously housed the insane, prisoners, and the sick. Conditions there were poor, and around the time of our broadside it was considered to be worse than the Bastille. The wells were operated by both prisoners (24 at a time in one hour shifts) and horses. The second of the wells serviced the laundry and the third the wing housing the insane.