Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde. Représentées par des figures dessinées & gravées par Bernard Picard, & autres habiles artistes [...]. Nouvelle edition. Enrichie de toutes les figures comprises dans l'ancienne édition en sept volumes, & dans les quatre publiés par forme de Supplément. Par une société de gens de lettres.

4 vol., folio; 264 (of 265) pl. (some foxing and spotting, minor light water stains, pl. IX of vol. IV missing).

Contemp. marbled claf, gilt-orn. spines with raised bands, red edges (sm. rubbed).

New edition, complete in 4 vol. of this compilation published in Amsterdam between 1723 and 1736 by J.-F. Bernard and A.-A. Bruzen de La Martinière, here with the texts and dissertations of the various authors recast by Poncelin de la Roche-Tilhac. Vast comparative table of the religions of the known world, ill. with the same copper engravings as the original by B. Picart (some of them reengraved), i.e. 264 (of 265) plates (incl. pl. 36bis and 86bis) of which 29 on double pp. or folded (num. 1-222 and I-XLI, with the headpiece of vol. I num. 1, one plate 36bis and 1 plate 86bis); in addition, 3 copper engravings and some woodcut vignettes. Beautiful illustrations, sometimes fanciful or exaggeratedly picturesque, depicting the rites and rituals of the various beliefs but also costumes, deities, etc. (most with multiple subjects per plate). The work deals with "natural religions" in Asia, Africa, America (vol. I), South America and Europe, including Judaism and Islam (vol. II), other religions (Catholicism, Orthodoxism and Protestantism, Copts, Armenians, Waldensians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Quakers, Anabaptists...) as well as orders of chivalry and the inquisition (vol. III). Vol. IV is mainly devoted to superstitions and also contains "Histoire du Purgatoire de saint Patrice", "Bacchanales et saturnales des Anciens", "Essai sur l'origine et les pratiques des francs-maçons" and "Mémoires pour servir l'histoire de la fête des foux".
Ref. Cohen 134 sq. (autres éd.). - Sabin 4931 sq (id.). - Brunet I:1742 sq. (id.). - Caillet 8644 sq. (id.). - Barbier I:553 (id.).