[Rarebooks] fa: BONNOT DE MABLY - PARALLELE DES ROMAINS ET DES FRANCOIS 1740

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending MONDAY, March 20. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/jsorvzs

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

[Gabriel Bonnot de Mably:] Parallele des Romains et des François par rapport au Gouvernement. Paris: chez Didot, quay des Augustins pres le pont S. Michel, a la Bible d'or, MDCCXL [1740]. FIRST EDITION. Two volumes, 12mo (17 cm), in full period calf, spines lettered and decorated in gilt, page edges dyed red, marbled endpapers; [2], x, 346, [12] pp.; [2], 369, [15] pp.; with the errata and approbation leaves; woodcut title-page monograms, initials and head-pieces.

The uncommon first edition of this treatise comparing Roman and French institutions of government and celebrating "the progress of civilization," the author's first significant published work. Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (1709-1785) was a widely read and influential philosopher and historian whose works had a profound effect on the early stages of the French Revolution, in particular the deliberations of the Estates-General. He was a close friend and patron of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was tutor to the children of his brother, Jean Bonnot de Mably. Bindings with some loss to the leather at the spine ends, modest wear and bumping to the corners; contents with occasional (generally  light) damp-staining to the edges. Engraved armorial bookplate of Earl Waldegrave.