Descripción
11 volumes: 10 volumes text: 8vo., (7 6/8 x 4 6/8 inches). Half-titles. Frontispiece portrait of Raynal and 9 frontispieces. Fine contemporary mottled calf, the smooth spines ruled in six compartments with citron and olive green morocco lettering-pieces in 2, the others decorated with fine gilt tools. Atlas volume: 4to., (10 2/8 x 8 inches). Half-title, the "Arrest de la Cour de Parlement" and "Censure de la Faculte de Theologie" both dated 1781, at end. 50 fine double-page engraved maps, 19 letterpress tables, including 12 folding at end. Contemporary tree calf (hinges and head and foot of the spine a bit worn). Provenance: atlas volume with early manuscript titles to verso. "the most eloquent man I ever heard speak in French" (John Adams) Third and definitive edition, much expanded by Denis Diderot (1713 - 1784) from the first edition published in 1770. With A FINE AUTOGRAPH FRAGMENT BY RAYNAL, 1 leaf, 4to., (11 x 7 4/8 inches) written on the left-hand half of each side in a close script, and possibly an early draft for the opening chapter of volume IV which is on Egypt (old vertical crease mark, one or two later relevant annotations in other hands). "The exoticism, anecdotal style, and strident advocacy of social and economic reforms that characterized this survey of colonialism and commerce, strengthened in the third edition of 1780 by copious additions contributed by Diderot, made it one of the bulwarks of the French Enlightenment. But its open anticlericalism and advocacy of the right of insurrection alarmed the French monarchy and led to a decree of Parliament of 1781 ordering Raynal's arrest and the confiscation of his property" (Aldridge). The Roman Catholic Church officially banned the History in 1774 and ordered that copies were to be burnt. Both documents reporting the edicts against Raynal: the "Arrest de la Cour de Parlement" and "Censure de la Faculte de Theologie" are included here in the atlas. As a result Raynal was forced into exile. The 'Histoire' includes an account of each of the thirteen American colonies, Hudson's Bay, Canada and Louisiana, which was also published separately in 1781 as "Storia dell' America Settentrionale", and was attributed with bringing about American Independence. Raynal's work was also a great inspiration to revolutionaries in France, particularly to the young impressionable Napoleon Bonaparte, who entered into correspondence with Raynal regarding his history of Corsica, and even visited him. His later plans to conquer Egypt are often attributed to his reading of Raynal's work. Extremely comprehensive in its scope the work "relates to trade in the Persian Gulf and with Arabia and India; the conquests of the Portuguese and Dutch in the East Indies and Asia; Spanish conquests in the Americas and the West Indies; the Portuguese conquest of Brazil; and the English and French colonies in North America" (Hill 1426). The fine maps include two world maps: one folding double-hemisphere; and one on a Mercator projection. Maps related to America include: Amerique Septentrionale; Les Isles Antilles et le Golfe du Mexique; Partie Meridionale de l'Ancien Mexique ou de la Nouv.le Espagne; Le Nouveau Mexique, avec la partie Septentrionale de l'Ancien, ou de la Nouvelle Espagne; Amerique Meridionale; Peru; Grenada, New Andalousia, and Guyana; French and Dutch Guiana; Chili; Brazil; Northern Brazil; 2 maps of the Antilles; St. Domingo; Jamaica; Cuba; Guadeloupe; Martinique; "L'Isle de Terre-Neuve, L'Acadie, ou la Nouvelle Ecosse, l'Isle St. Jean et la Partie Orientale" and "Partie Occidentale du Canada"; Louisiana and Florida; and 2 maps of the northern and southern states of the United States. Maps showing the emerging Australian coastline include the world maps and "Carte des Isles de la Sonde, et des Isles Moluques" showing the northern coastline of Australia. A. Owen Aldridge for ADNB; Sabin 68081. Catalogued by Kate Hunter. N° de ref. del artículo 72lib585
Contactar al vendedor
Denunciar este artículo
