PICART (Bernard) - BERNARD (Jean-Frédéric). - Lot 35

PICART (Bernard) - BERNARD (Jean-Frédéric). Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde. Amsterdam: Jean-Frédéric Bernard, 1723-1743. - 11 folio volumes, 447 x 275. Red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing and gilt coat of arms in the center of the covers, ribbed spine decorated in the grotesque style, gilt floral roulette inside, gilt edges over marbling (period binding). Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes, I, col. 554. - Brunet, Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres, I, 1742. - Cohen/de Ricci, Guide de l'amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, col. 134. - Christiane Guttinger, Le Graveur Bernard Picart..., in Amitiés huguenotes internationales, 2019. - Lipperheide, Katalog der Kostümbibliothek, II, no. 1808. - O. H. R., Manuel de l'amateur de reliures armoriées françaises, pl. 284. - Quérard, La France littéraire, VII, p. 137. A monumental work, complete with all parts, additions and plates, in its first printing. It was at the height of the Regency period that the French draughtsman and engraver Bernard Picart (1673-1733), a refugee in the Netherlands since 1709 on Protestant grounds, decided with his compatriot, the publisher Jean-Frédéric Bernard (1680-1752), to catalogue the religious ceremonies and customs of all the peoples of the world. The result of this gigantic undertaking is a collection of eleven volumes and 265 plates. "They present all religions on an equal footing, from the angle of a study of mores, and underline the relativity of beliefs. Scenes of torture denounce the horror of the Inquisition; endless Catholic processions, rites and dogmas are somewhat mocked: the work was put on the index, but this did not prevent it from being a success. In France, engraved plates were reissued, but without the subversive text. Three historians have emphasized how much this book "changed Europe" (Lynn Hunt, Margaret C. Jacob and Wijnajnand Mijnhardt, The book that changed Europe: Picard and Bernard's Religious Ceremonies of the World, Cambridge (Massachusetts), Harvard University Press/Belknap Press, 2010) by this comparative and societal approach to religion heralding the Enlightenment" (Christiane Guttinger). Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde was published in Amsterdam from 1723 to 1737 by Protestant printer Jean-Frédéric Bernard in 7 volumes, plus two volumes of supplements in 1743. The work was completed by 2 volumes of Superstitions anciennes et modernes published by the same publisher in 1733 and 1736. "The two volumes of Supplément, and those of Superstitions, being much rarer than the others, alone account for more than half the price of the copies" (Brunet). The illustrations include a frontispiece, 15 vignettes, 12 of which are in headbands, and 265 superb engraved plates, some on double-page. An exceptional copy in a uniform binding with the coat of arms of Anne-Nicolas-Robert de Caze (1718-1793), known as M. de Juvincourt. The third son of Gaspard-Hyacinthe, Seigneur de Juvincourt, Treasurer General of the French Post Office and Relay, and Marie-Henriette de Watelet, Anne-Nicolas-Robert de Caze was a member of the Paris Parliament, Secretary to the King's Cabinet, Farmer General from 1751 to 1763 and Treasurer of the French Post Office and Relay from 1752 to 1781. "His library was magnificent and quite extensive; it was sold on January 4, 1763" (O. H. R.). The arms on the plates, reproduced by O. H. R. on plate 284, iron no. 1, are here framed by a gilded crown of acanthus leaves, affixed separately and partially covering the crown in chief, as well as the lions on either side of the coat of arms. These are the same acanthus leaves found on the roulette wheel known as "dentelle du Louvre". A sumptuous copy in armorial morocco, one of the finest known of this work. A few traces of rubbing on the boards. Small light ink stain on p. 396 of vol. 3, trace of wetness on 2 leaves of vol. 4 (p. 345 to 348), false title missing from vol. 6, soiling on last leaf of vol. 6, small marginal wetness on pp. 264-265 of vol. 7, marginal angular tear on p. 386. Provenance: Anne-Nicolas-Robert de Caze, with his coat of arms on the boards.