Author: Volney, C. F.
Title: Oeuvres complètes de C.-F. Volney, comte et pair de France mises en ordre et précédées de la vie de l'auteur.
Description: Paris, Bossange Frères, 1821. Eight volumes (20.1 x 12.7 cm). 8vo. 3,430 pp.; one engraved portrait, one engraved frontispiece, 12 engraved plates (of which 6 larger, folded),11 folded maps, 15 folded tables (of 16? see description). Uniform full polished calf with gilt title and ornaments on the spines, and gilt floral borders and armorial devise on all boards, gilt dentelles, marbled edges. = First edition of the collected works, dealing mostly with the Middle East (with some fine folded plates) and including important observations on language such as the engraved "alfabet harmonique Europeo et Arabe" and the vocabulaire de la langue des Miâmis (North America). Constantin Volney (1757-1820) was a French historian and philosopher. This work comprises: vol. 1: "Notice sur la vie et les écrits de C.F. Volney" par Adolphe Bossange; vols. 2 and 3: devoted to Volney's accounts from Egypt, Syria, Palestine and the Levant ("Voyage en Egypt et en Syrie pendant les années 1783..."); vols. 4 and 5: "Recherches nouvelles sur l'histoire ancienne"; vol. 6: "Lecons d'histoire prononcées à l'école normale en l'an III de la république francaise (1795)"; vol. 7: Accounts resulting from his three years residence in North America 1795-1798 ("Tableau du climat et du sol des Etats-Unis" and "Vocabulaire de la langue des Miâmis") and: vol. 8: dealing with his famous linguistic works: "L'alphabet européen appliqué aux langues asiatiques" and "Simplification des langues orientales". A table numbered "V" in volume 8 is referred to, but not present, as usual (or as always?). The first part contains a folded map of the earth's hemisphere with Arabia at its centre. Some plates depict the Gizeh pyramides, Balbek and Palmyra. Two hinges weak, one board detached, some foxing, but mainly in the text. Otherwise a very good set in an attractive binding. Cioranescu, 63750; Vicaire VII, 1129 (calls for fewer plates).

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