Traité historique sur les Amazones...
Leiden: Chez J. A. Langerak; Marchand Libraire, 1718. First French edition. 12mo, 2 volumes in 1, continuously paginated with separate titles, [6], 324, [6], 325-621pp. In French. Extra engraved title, title pages in two colors, folding map, 3 plates, plus numerous vignette engravings in the text. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt-tooled spine panels and board edges, red morocco spine label, page edges stained red, marbled endpapers. Contemporary ownership signature to title, scattered marginal foxing, map with very small inner-margin tear at fold. Joints flaked, edges lightly rubbed, else very solid and untouched. A near fine example in beautiful contemporary binding.
Fine example of this 18th century study of the Amazons through classical sources and modern scholarship. French scholar and physician, Pierre Petit (1617-1685) first published De Amazonibus, Dissertatio in 1685, with this 1718 French edition anonymously translated and greatly expanded. Petit attempts to prove the Amazons existed, not just in myth, through medals and monuments which are illustrated in the text. The debate of the time was also about where they might have lived, and Petit places them in Cappadocia. An interesting treatise on the Ancient female warrior cultures in myth and scholarship. Item #9272
Price: $500.00