Չամչեան (Միքայէլ) [TCHANTCHIAN (Michael, Sr.)]. History of A - Lot 279

Չամչեան (Միքայէլ) [TCHANTCHIAN (Michael, Sr.)]. History of Armenia from B.C. 2247 to A.D. 1780. Calcutta, Bishop's College Press, 1827. 2 vols. in 1, in-8, XLI-414 p. + p. III to XIV-565 p., contemporary fawn basane, smooth spine, burgundy title page, double gilt and cold-stamped fillets, speckled edges (title page of vol. 2 title page and one plate missing, boards unbound, spine and headbands rubbed, slight foxing, marginal tears and slight transfers on the map of Armenia, left lateral margin of plate short). First English edition of this work, translated by John Avdall, a member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The author, Father Mikayel Chamchian (or Tchantchian), originally from Istanbul, settled in Venice in the mid-18ᵉ century, where he joined the Catholic congregation of the Mekhitarists of San Lazzaro. This work traces the history of Armenia from its legendary origins to 1780, with a continuation written by the translator himself up to the present day. The original Armenian edition, in three quarto volumes, was published in Venice in 1784. The work is illustrated with a folding map engraved on copper by P. Savignhac and printed by S. Smith & Co, Hurkaru Press, and a plate engraved by E. de Lacombe depicting a view of the Armenian college founded in Moscow in 1816 by the noble Elazar family. Label of the Paris bookseller H. Samuel Provenance: Frédéric Macler (Brunet, V, 685).