BARTHÉLEMY,J.J. Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce, dans le milieu du quatrième siècle avant l'ère vulgaire. 3e édition. Paris, Chez De Bure l'aîné, 1790. 8vo. 7 volumes: 1, XVI,248 p., 4 maps; 2, (IV),350 p., 13 maps & plates; 3, (VIII),332 p., 5 maps & plates; 4, (VI),339 p., 6 maps & plates; 5, (VI),336 p., 1 plate; 6, (VI),313 p., 1 map & 1 plate; 7, (II),78,(2),LXIV,CXXXIX p. In all, 4 & 27 folding plates & maps. Contemporary boards. 19.5 cm (Ref: Graesse 1,300; Brunet 1,674) (Details: Without the Atlas volume. Bindings in marbled paper. All spines ruled gilt, and with a light brown title label, and a dark blue small oval volume label. Small paper library label at the foot of the spines. Maps engraved by the French cartographer Jean Denis Barbié du Bocage, 1760-1825, who was a friend of the author Barthélemy. At this time he was attached, like Barthélemy, to the cabinet of medals from the Library of King.) (Condition: Bindings scuffed. Corners slightly bumped. Some scattered and insignificant ink and rust spots. Faint traces of a bookplate being removed on the front pastedowns) (Note: The Frenchman Jean Jacques Barthélemy, 1716-1795, was a cleric and keeper of the royal cabinet of medals in Paris. His fame rests on his 'Voyage du jeune Anacharsis', or 'Travels of Anacharsis the younger in Greece in the middle of the 4thy century B.C', which was published in 1788, and illustrated with maps by the cartographer Jean Denis Barbié du Bocage. The 'Voyage' was longtime held in wide esteem as a popular account of the antiquities, manners, customs and governments of ancient Greece. Barthélemy's aim was not scholarship, or to write a history of Greece. His intention was to provide his countrymen, in an entertaining form, with some knowledge of Greek civilization, and to popularize the results of modern research. A road trip, when 'tout est en action' is an excellent vehicle for telling 'des détails interdits à l'historien'. (Vol. 1, Avertissement p. VI) Nevertheless, in volume 1 Barthélemy gives a copious introduction, which supplies whatever may be wanting in respect to historical details. The first person narrator of the story, Anacharsis, is a young Scythian, a descendent of the famous philosopher Anacharsis, of whom he complains that he is 'si célèbre parmi les Grecs, et si indignement traité chez les Scythes'. (vol. 2, p. 1) Our fictional hero leaves for Athens for instruction in the spring of 363 B.C, a few years before the birth of Alexander the Great. He makes a tour through the regions of Greece, and visits islands, 'observant par-tout les moers et les usages des peuples, assisant à leurs fêtes, étudiant la nature de leur gouvernemens'. (p. Vol. 1, p. V). He meets Epaminondas, Phocion, Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes and others. In 337, soon after the battle of Chaeroneia, when he sees that Greece is enslaved by Philippus, the father of Alexander, he returns to his native country, to write an account of his road trip) (Provenance: On the flyleaf of the first 2 volumes the name 'v.Graevenig') (Collation: 1: pi8, A-P8, Q4; 2: pi4 (minus blank leaf pi4); A-X8, Y8 (minus blank leaf Y8); 3: pi4, A-V8, X6; 4: pi4 (minus blank leaf pi4), A-X8, Y2; 5: pi4 (minus blank leaf pi4), A-X8; 6: pi4 (minus blank leaf pi4), A-T8, V6 (minus blank leaf V6). 7: pi2 (minus blank leaf pi2), A-E-8, a-d8, a8, b4, c-i8, k2; 1, maps I-IV; 2, plates 1/13; 3, plates 14/18; 4, plates 19/23 & plate 27 (last one); 5, plate 24; 6, plates 25 & 26)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)
Book number: 130228 Euro 300.00

Keywords: (Rare Books), Anacharsis, French imprints, Greece, Greek history, Griechenland, Roman, antike altertum antiquity, griechische Geschichte, historical novel, novel