[RAYNAL, Guillaume-Thomas]. - Lot 59

[RAYNAL, Guillaume-Thomas]. Histoire philosophique et politique des etablissements & du commerce des européens dans les deux Indes. Nouvelle édition, corrigée et augmentée d'une table de matières. Amsterdam, 1772. 6 volumes in-12 and 4 volumes in-8 of Supplements. Contemporary speckled fawn basane, ribbed spine, blond title page and green tomaison, caissons adorned with gilt fleurons and fillet, red edges (rubbing and spotting on binding, foxing, missing false titles of volumes 1-3 of the Supplement). Written with the help of d'Holbach, Naigeon and Diderot, this work, symbolic of the Enlightenment, includes severe chapters against colonization, mercantilism and the slave trade. Put on the index in 1770 and printed, like our edition, abroad to be passed on "under the cloak", it was condemned to the fire in 1781. Administrative memoirs and treatises alternate with pieces of revolutionary eloquence, often by Diderot. The most accomplished work on America at the time, with a description of the American colonies and an important source on the subject. Volume I. (2) ff. 542 pp. Vol. II. (2) ff. 420 pp. Volume III: (2) ff. 611 pp. Vol. IV. (2) ff. 500 pp. Volume V. (2) ff. 416 pp. Volume VI: (2) ff. 596 pp. Supplement volumes: Volume I. XIV (of XVI)-605 pp. Volume II. XIII (of XV)-574 pp. Volume III. XIII (of XV)-492 pp. Volume IV. VIII-434 pp. [Bound at the end]: Tables pour l'intelligence & vérification des résultats de commerce & finances. A La Haye, 1781. (2) ff. 23 folding tables.