BOCK (Jean-Nicolas-Etienne de). Various works.... Lot 14

BOCK (Jean-Nicolas-Etienne de). Various works. Essay on the history of Sabeism, to which a Catechism has been attached, which contains the principal dogmas of the religion of the Druses. Metz-Paris, Claude Lamort, Devilly, Belin, 1788. In-12, [12]-182 pp. in marbled fawn basane, spine with ornate nerves, red basane title and tomaison, red edges (period binding). Spine restored. A good copy. Rare first edition of one of the first texts dedicated to the Bohemians. Jean-Nicolas-Etienne de Bock (1747-1809) was one of the first French scholars, along with Anquetil-Duperron, to take an interest in Zoroastrianism and Mazdeism. His researches are more meticulous than precise, and he has on the origin of the oriental religions still confused views, which the rapid progress of knowledge was going to dissipate, but he is among the precursors in the field of the comparatism. Related to the suite, by the same author: Mémoire historique sur le peuple nomade, appelé en France Bohémien, et en Allemagne Zigeuner; avec un Vocabulaire comparatif des langues Indienne et Bohémienne, traduit de l'Allemand de M. Grellmann. Metz, Claude Lamort, Devilly, Paris, chez Belin, 1788, [2]-91 pp. with a folding plate. The work, despite its separate title and pagination, is in fact the second part of the Essai sur l'histoire du sabéisme. (Caillet I, 1263.)