Lot No. 6: PICART, BERNARD

PICART, BERNARD

PICART'S RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS

THE CEREMONIES AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE VARIOUS NATIONS OF THE KNOWN WORLD: TOGETHER WITH HISTORICAL ANNOTATIONS, AND FEVERAL CURIOUS DISCOURSES EPUALLY INFTRUETIVE AND ENTERTAINING.

First Edition in English

Seven Volumes Bound As Six

Year: 1733

Size: 42.2 x 27.7 cm (16.6 x 10.9 inches)

Printed by William Jackson, for Claude Du Bosc, Engraver at the Golden Head., Tall folio. Text printed in red and in black; each volume with half-title.

No. of Illustrations: 212 (of 223) Illustrations

Engraved plates (many double-page and folding) and several engraved initials and head- and tail-pieces; lacking engraved dedication leaf; one plate in Vol. IV, six plates in Vol. V, and three plates in Vol. VI.

First edition in English of Bernard Picart's monumental and famed Enlightenment work on the religious customs of the world. Originally published in French in Amsterdam between 1723-37, Religious Ceremonies of the World "marked a major turning point in European attitudes toward religious belief...It sowed the radical idea that religions could be compared on equal terms, and therefore that all religions were equally worthy of respect--and criticism." (Hunt, Lynn, and Margaret C. Jacob and Wijnand Mijnhardt, The Book that Changed the World: Picart & Bernard's Religious Ceremonies of the World, p. 1). The work was a collaboration between Picart, one the period's greatest engravers, and publisher and author Jean Frederic Bernard. They had both fled religious persecution to the safe haven of Holland, where they found an environment conducive to the execution of this work, and whose publication marked a watershed moment for religious tolerance in Europe. The resulting work was unprecedented in scope, and covers in great detail the ceremonies and customs of the world's largest religions, including Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodox, etc.), Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, religions in Asia, Africa, and India, as well as the tenets of Deism and Freemasonry.

Picart is particularly regarded for his treatment and examination of Jewish ceremonies and contemporary Jewish life, where he "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 eighteenth 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). Another notable feature is the extensive descriptions and plates of Native American customs in the third volume.

BINDING: Contemporary full brown calf, first volume expertly rebacked, other volumes too rebacked.

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Provenance : Collection of a Gentleman

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