1719-24 MONTFAUCON ILLUSTRATED MONUMENTAL WORK on CLASSICAL ARCHEOLOGY 15 VOLS

[Classical antiquity and neolatinism]

Montfaucon, B. de.


L'antiquité expliquée et representée en figures.


Paris, F. Delaulne, H. Foucault, M. Clousier a.o., 1719 - 1724

 15 large folio volumes

(5 parts in 10 vols. plus 5 vols. of supplement)
 

First edition of this monumental work on classical archaeology by B. de Montfaucon (1655-1741), Benedictine of the Congregation of Saint-Maur and one of the founders of modern archaeology,
in which the statues, monuments, vases, coins, seals and artefacts of antiquity are classified according to their subject matter.

The work was published in an edition of 1800 copies, which apparently sold out within two months.
A five-volume supplement was published in 1724

About 1400 engravings (including over 240 on double pages)

 The works contains five sections:

I. Les Dieux des Grecs et des Romains;
II. La Culte des Grecs & des Romains (...);
III. Les Usages de la vie. Les Habits, les Vases, les Monoyes, les Poids, les Mesures; des Grecs, des Romains & des autres Nations;
IV. La Guerre, les Voitures, les grands Chemins, les Ponts, les Aqueducs, la Navigation;
V. Les Funérailes, les Lampes, les Supplices etc.


-Ref. Cohen 731. - Cicognara 2493. - Cat. of the Avery Arch. Libr. 680-681. - 

Full uniform leather over wooden boards, blind rules in black, spines with raised bands and title labels, decorated in blind.

Mostly very good condition, clean and crisp interior,  one or the bindings restored, one of the volumes with some stains to the leaves, some minor scratches to the covers, minor occasional foxing, one of the volumes with some occasional marginal worming

Massive folios.  Size: 11 3/4 by 17 3/4"

Very heavy set - weight 150 lbs

Text in French
================================
 Bernard de Montfaucon (1655-1741), one of the major scholars of the Congration of St. Maur (a congregation of French Benedictines, which is known for its high level of scholarship).
Montfaucon is regarded as the founder of Byzantine palaeography and because of his works on ancient cultures (incl. the present work) as one of the founders of the discipline of archaeology. PMM 175, note: "His Antiquité expliquée (...) surveyed in fifteen volumes [incl. 5 supplements] the social and artistic aspects of the ancient civilizations; and (...) can well be called foundation stones of scientific archaeology."
===============================