CLÉMENT, François. L'Art de vérifier les dates des faits his - Lot 41

CLÉMENT, François. L'Art de vérifier les dates des faits historiques, des chartes, des chroniques, et autres anciens monumens, depuis la naissance de Notre-Seigneur, par le moyen d'une table chronologique. Published in Paris by Guillaume Desprez in 1770. In folio format. Full tawny flaked calf, 6-rib spine underlined by a gilt fillet, caissons adorned with gilt fleurons, title in gilt lettering on tawny morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, double fillet on the edges, interior roulette, speckled edges. Contemporary binding. 4 f.n.ch. (faux-titre, title, epistle), XX (preface, table of articles), XXXVII (dissertation on dates), 934 pp. 1 f.n.ch. (notice for the binder), title in black and red decorated with a vignette engraved in intaglio by Prevost, a header with the royal coat of arms and an allegorical header designed and engraved by Prevost, several typographical bands, ornamented lettrines and culs-de-lampe. Text on two columns framed by a double black fillet. Rubbing, 3 jaws partially cracked, slight epidermis on boards, discreet addition of leather on upper head, small loss on lower head. Interior of rare freshness. Second edition (first in 1750) revised and much enlarged by Dom Francois Clément (1714-1793). The work offers a succession of chronologies, filled with notes: saints, councils, popes, but also Roman emperors, caliphs, kings of France or Spain, then emperors of China or tsars of Russia, with an important section devoted to the great fiefs (Provence, Savoy, Anjou, Prussia, Holland, doges of Venice...). "Despite its age, this work is still held in high esteem: indeed, it is the only collection with such a well-developed biographical section" (Saffroy). One of the monuments of eighteenth-century scholarship, in an elegant contemporary binding.