Montfaucon, Bernard de. – L’Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures. Tome second. Le Culte des Grecs & des Romains. Premiere Partie – Seconde partie.

Montfaucon’ s landmark work on classical archaeology. B. de Montfaucon (1655-1741), Benedictine of the Congregation of Saint-Maur devoted to historical and ecclesiastical scholarship, is regarded as the father of Archaeology and Greek paleography. “His Antiquité… surveyed in fifteen volumes the social and artistic aspects of the ancient civilizations; and the unfinished Monuments de la Monarchie Française tried to do the same for early French history. These works can well be called foundation stones of scientific archaeology” (Printing and the Mind of Man p.175). As this work has never been completely replaced, it still conserves its long-standing value. This first edition is the best, and beautiful copies are not easy to come by (Brunet 28960). Text in french and latin. – This volumes contains: The Worship of the Greeks & Romans and other Nations. – The Religion of the Egyptians, Arabs, Syrians, Persians, Scythians, Germans, French, Spaniards and Carthaginians. – Missing 7 plates 4,50,62,78,88,97 and 184. The plates clean and in strong impressions. – Binding rubbed on spine, joints and edges. – Besides this defects still a desireable work on the Religion of Greek and Romains and also of the Europeans and the Middle East.