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10 volumes plus Atlas. With engraved frontispiece in each volume (preceding but not facing the title pages), & a total of 22 folding tables. Atlas with [2], 22 pp. text & 50 double-page engraved maps by Rigobert Bonne. Text volumes are (8vo) 21x12.3 cm (8¼x4¾"), period half mottled calf & speckled boards, spines tooled in gilt, raised bands, morocco lettering pieces, decorative pastepaper endpapers; atlas is (4to) 26.3x20 cm (10½x8"), bound as the text volumes.

Attractive edition of Raynal's seminal work on the relations between the European colonial powers and their far-off conquests and domains. Originally published anonymously in 1770 in a shorter version, the book expressed strong sentiments against despotism, slavery, the established religious order, the Inquisition, and the colonial system in general. It was suppressed by the French monarchy, and early editions were produced in Geneva, Amsterdam, Lausanne, The Hague, London and elsewhere. This edition notable for the atlas of fifty double-page maps by Bonne (numbered 1-49, with a "17 bis"), with the title "Atlas de Toutes les Parties Connues du Globe Terrestre, Dressé pour l'Histoire Philosophique et Politique des Établissemens et du Commerce des Européens dans les Deux Indes." The important atlas delineates the various regions of the world involved in the European expansion and settlement into Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas, basically most of the known world. Present are maps of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, India, the United States (an early named appearance), China, the Moluccas, various European nations, regions of South America, Caribbean islands, and many more. Many of the maps show the prevailing winds. On front flyleaves of text volume one are early handwritten summaries in French of the contents of the ten volumes.

Provenance: Bookworm and Silverfish, 11/76