VENDU
10 folio volumes (400 x 246 mm) with engraved frontispiece, XXI, 808 pp. for volume I ; 1 unn.l., 536, 358 pp. for volume II ; 1 unn.l., pp. [359]-760, 179, 216 pp. for volume III ; 1 unn.l., 223, 271, 242 pp. for volume IV ; 1 unn.l., 225, 51, 320, 110 pp. [additions to letters A-L] for volume V ; 1 unn.l., 514, 131, 102 pp. for volume VI ; 1 unn.l., 408, 27, 240, 214 pp. for volume VII ; 1 unn.l., pp. [215]-430, 271, 205, 130 pp. for volume VIII ; 2 unn.l., 901, 59 pp. for Supplement I ; 1 unn.l., 135, 823 pp. for Supplement II. Polished calf, Rohan-Chabot coat of arms at the corners, spine gilt with raised bands, red edges (contemporary binding).
1 in stock
PMM, 155, a (for the original 1674 edition in a single volume).
A very fine edition, with the two volumes of supplements.
Moréri's Grand dictionnaire was a great success in the book trade. It went through 20 successive editions before being replaced by Diderot and d'Alembert's famous Encyclopédie, to which it was an important addition.
"The age of enlightenment produced a spate of encyclopaedias which are either still worth consulting as representing the range of contemporary knowledge and trend of contemporary thought… The Abbé Moréri deliberately designed his book as an apologia and defence of his church. It is also noteworthy for its emphasis on historical and biographical entries which for a long time were neglected by other compilers such as Bayle, Harris, and Chambers. Moréri’s ‘Great Historical Encyclopaedia’ had by 1759 gone through twenty editions before it was ousted by the Encyclopédie. A useful reminder of the strength of the traditional, anti-rationalist force in the ‘age of reason'"(PMM).
Some minor binding defects, wear, scuffing or spotting; small worm work at the beginning of volume VI.
Provenance: Rohan-Chabot library (arms).
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