Ceremonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peoples du monde. Picart. Amsterdam 1723-1738. First Edition. ...

Ceremonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peoples du monde. Picart. Amsterdam 1723-1738. First Edition. Complete, Magnificent Set!
Religious ceremonies and customs from around the world, with engravings by Bernard Picart. Amsterdam, 1723-1738. Complete set! 7 sections. First edition.[4] volumes, 7 sections. French. 39 cm.About 250 beautiful engravings on complete pages, thick paper, some across page spreads. In addition to tens of engraved titles in red and black ink. Missing the frontispiece engraving of the first volume.The Getty Conservation Institute and UCLA have a digital version of this edition. However this copy, includes leaves that they are missing. Contents:t. 1. Ceremonies des juifs & des chrétiens catholiques t. 2. Ceremoniesreligieuses en usage chez les catholiques t. 3.1 ptie. Ceremonies religieusesdes peuples des indes occidentales; t. 3.2. ptie. Sur les pratiques religieuses des indiens orientaux – t. 4.1 ptie; Sur la religions des Banians, &c &c.; t. 4.2 ptie.Ceremonies religieuses des peuples de la Chine & du Japon, &c.; t. 4.3. ptie. Sur la religion des perses … & sur les africains t. 5. Ceremonies des grecs & des protestanst. 6. Les Anglicans, les quaquers, les anabaptistes, &c. t. 7.Céremonies des Mahometans &c.; Supplement et corrections. Table des matieresCeremonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde is a monumental work arranged by Jean-Frédéric Bernard, decorated with the stunning engravings of Bernhard Picart. It was called “The Book that Changed the Face of Europe”. As per the title of the work, it was an attempt to collect the customs and ceremonies of all known religions in the world. This work became the cornerstone for future studies of religions and greatly influenced European perceptions of world religions.At the beginning of the 18th century, during the birth of the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, two people – an artist and author – created a monumental, 7-volume, work that greatly influenced and changed the way people thought about religion. Bernard Picart (1673-1733) was one of the most prominent engravers of his time and Jean-Frédéric Bernard (1684-1744) was a bookseller and publisher in Amsterdam. Together they created this work with thousands of pages and hundreds of engravings that tried to represent the customs and ceremonies of all known religions in the world. Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde, otherwise known as “Picart”, broke all accepted stereotypes of the time. It presented all religious, even those of the heathen idol worshippers, in a non-judgmental manner. Through their work, they tried to promote religious tolerance by depicting the negative side-effects of fanaticism and by praising religions, such as Islam, that were tolerant of others. Picart dedicated much space and opened the work with the Jewish religion – at a time when anti-Semitism was rampant in Europe. He depicts Jewish customs sympathetically, including his famed two-paged engraving of Purim in the Amsterdam synagogue. Picart was very familiar with the Jewish community in Amsterdam and even made an engraving for the “Tikun Sofrim”.Though the book was banned by the church, it was published in four languages (French, English, Dutch and German) and 4000 copies were sold. In recent years, researchers of religion and comparative religion have showed renewed interest in the work.This is the first complete edition with seven volumes that was published in 1723-1737, and includes all the volumes that were published during Picart’s lifetime. (In 1743, another edition was published by P. Bernhard that included an additional two books, section 7b and 8.) This first edition is marked by the name that appears on the first volume “Picard” in place of “Picart” – which caused much confusion regarding the spelling of his name in later editions.This is a complete edition, bound in magnificent, antiquated leather bindings, slightly rubbed. Red cut leaves. Minimal aging stains. The leaves of the books and the engravings are in very fine condition. Complete editions in such fine condition are very rare!