FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF PICART’S MASTERPIECE: ONE OF THE MONUMENTAL ILLUSTRATED WORKS OF THE 18TH-CENTURY

PICART, Bernard. The Ceremonies and Religious Customs of the Various Nations of the Known World… Written originally in French with a large number of Folio Copper Plates… London: William Jackson for Claude Du Bosc, 1733-39. Seven volumes in six. Folio (11 by 18-1/2 inches), contemporary mottled calf rebacked and recornered, raised bands black morocco spine labels.

First edition in English of one of the most spectacular illustrated works of the 18th-century, with 223 engraved copper plates after Picart depicting the religious ceremonies of numerous nations, including Jewish and North American Indian rites.

Picart, “the outstanding professional illustrator of the first third of the 18th-century” (Ray), is famed largely for this monumental work, here complete in six large folio volumes. The superb copper-engraved plates, many double-page, illustrate in fine detail scenes of religious ceremonies, views of temples and churches and religious costume. Of particular interest are the engravings and related text describing the North American Indians, as well as those sections regarding Judaism. “Picart earned a place in the history of Jewish art by his realistic portrayal of Jewish religious rites. These constitute an invaluable record of Dutch Jewry in the early 18th-century… Picart sought out Jews in the synagogue and in their homes in order to acquaint himself with their ceremonies. In his picture of a Passover celebration the artist himself can be seen, hatless, participating in the meal” (Encyclopedia Judaica XIII:498). “Picart was the outstanding professional illustrator of the first third of the 18th-century, an age during which the designs for the finest illustrated books were typically drawn by leading painters… When his diverse accomplishments are finally catalogued and analyzed, his standing as a book artist will be greatly enhanced” (Ray, Art of the French Illustrated Book, 7). Also with engraved head- and tailpieces and historiated initials. Title pages printed in red and black with engraved vignettes. Bound with all half titles. First published in Amsterdam, in French, beginning 1723. Lewine, 414. Harthan, History of the Illustrated Book, 140. Armorial bookplates. Owner signature to half title of Volume I. Occasional marginalia.

Tiny hole to plate opposite leaf [4Y2], Volume I. Text and plates generally quite fine and fresh, with just a few instances of faint marginal foxing.