RAYNAL (abbé). A Philosophical and Political History... Lot 50

RAYNAL (abbé). A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies. Revised, Augmented, and Published in ten Volumes by the abbé Raynal. Newly translated from the French, by J.O. Juwstqmond with a New Set of Maps Adapted to the Work, and a Copious Index. In Eight Volumes. London, A. Strahan and T. Caddll, 1788, 8 vol. 8°, portrait, 2 cartes dépliantes, [8]-399-1 blanche ; [6]-423, carte dépliante ; [6]-426, carte dépliante ; [8]-523-1 blanche, carte dépliante ; [8]-499-1 blanche, carte dépliante (petite déchirure sans perte) ; [8]-520 p. ; [8]-564 (petit coup à qques pages au coin supér.), carte dépliante ; [4]-374-[85-1 blanche] p., plein veau brun lég. flammé de l’époque, dos lisses orné, pièces de titre et de tomaison, plats encadrés d’une petite guirlande doré (qqs accrocs et usures). Bel ensemble bien complet des sept grandes cartes. Raynal had the assistance of various members of the « philosophe côteries » in his most important work, « L'Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes ». Diderot is credited with a third of this work, which was characterized by Voltaire as « du réchauffé avec de la déclamation ». The other chief collaborators were Pechméja, Baron d'Holbach, Paulze, the farmer-general of taxes, the Abbé Martin, and Alexandre Deleyre. The « philosophic » declamations perhaps constituted its chief interest for the general public, and its significance as a contribution to democratic propaganda. The Histoire went through many editions, being revised and augmented from time to time by Raynal ; it was translated into the principal European languages, and appeared in various abridgments. Its introduction into France was forbidden in 1779; the book was burned by the public executioner, and an order was given for the arrest of the author, whose name had not appeared in the first edition, but was printed on the title page of the Geneva edit