Raynal, Guillaume Thomas / [Bonne, Rigobert]. Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes.

Geneva, Pellet, 1780.

10 vols (8vo) and atlas (4to) in 11 vols. With engr. portrait, 9 frontispieces, 50 engr. maps, and 23 folding tables. Contemp. half calf with spine label; atlas bound in contemp. full calf.

 7,500.00

First ten-volume edition of this famous work on the European trade with the East and America. The atlas includes the well-known map of the Arabian Peninsula by Rigobert Bonne (1725-95). "This map covers from 25'-60' E and 10'-50' N. It shows the north east of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula with its three classic divisions, Arabia Deserta, Arabia Petraea and Arabia Felix. On the part showing the Arabian Peninsula, [... the data] is concentrated in the west" (Al Ankary coll.).

Primarily written by Diderot and the encyclopédists, this the work saw no less than 12 editions until 1821. The text deals with the commercial relations between Europe and their colonies. Raynal’s treatises on the evils of slavery and the moral obligation to aid the underprivileged were ahead of their time, and Raynal was harshly criticised and forced into exile.

Contemporary ownership "Hippolyte Cazenove" to endpapers; atlas volume slightly browned. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer.

References

Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, The Gulf in Historic Maps, p. 198. Khaled Al Ankary Collection p. 388. McMinn 56. Sabin 68081. Feugère 51. Phillips 652. Brunet IV, 1126. Graesse VI, 40. Cf. Kress B 314 & 315.