SUPERB 1794 RAYNAL’S INDIES WITH ATLAS VOLUME OF 50 BONNE MAPS: “BEST 18TH-CENTURY FRENCH WORK ON AMERICAN… GEOGRAPHY & TRADE”

(UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS) RAYNAL, Guillaume-Thomas (Abbé). Histoire Philosophique et Politique des Etablissemens et du Commerce des Européens dans les Deux Indes. Paris: Chez Berry, 3.e annee de l'ere Republicaine (1794). Eleven volumes. Small octavo (quarto atlas volume), contemporary full marbled calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, burgundy and black morocco spine labels, all edges gilt. $6500.

Expanded 1794 French edition of Raynal’s classic work, with superb atlas volume containing 50 engraved folding maps by Bonne, 24 of which depict the Americas. The splendid maps by Bonne (measuring approximately 8-1/2 by 11 inches) include detailed views of New Spain, Canada, Cuba, and the newly-formed Etats Unis de l’Amerique.

“The best 18th-century French work on American and Far East geography and trade; and one of the most influential products of the French Enlightenment in this field… [The work] was read by statesmen and leaders throughout the world. The maps are the finest of their day” (Nebenzahl). “This work is very comprehensive in its scope; it relates to trade in the Persian Gulf and with Arabia, the conquests of the Portuguese and Dutch in the East, Spanish conquests in South America, the Portuguese conquest of Brazil, the West Indies, the English colonies in North America, etc…. The Abbe Raynal determined to increase the scope of the original work, published in 1770, and in 1780 he brought out the much enlarged Geneva edition, of which, according to Grimm, Diderot wrote more than one-third” (Cox II: 222). “The French government ordered the book to be burnt on publication, and the author to be arrested because of criticism it contains… ‘It is rightly considered one of the books that most influenced the French Revolution… it was translated into almost all European languages, and it became a classic work”(Borba de Moraes II, 174). Bound with all half titles. Text in French. Hunersdorff 9, 78. Sabin 68081. Cohen 854-55. Library ink stamps on title pages.

All maps fine. A bit of light expert restoration to beautifully bound in 18th-century calf. A superb copy.