Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier / Benoît de Maillet - Description de l'Egypte or Description of Egypt - 1735

BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATED FIRST EDITION about Egypt, pyramids, mummies, art, religion, wars, natural history, animals, plants, Roman temples, river Nile, and with a large map of Egypt height 310 x width 370mm, which includes the Nile, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Middle East after a trip by Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier (1697-1760) and the long experience of Benoît de Maillet (1656-1738) the French consul general at Cairo (see portrait next to the title in red and black). Two parts/volumes in one, 570 pages, RARE FIRST EDITION and COMPLETE. Rich iconographic set composed of numerous illustrations and vignettes, engraved in copper, each engraving is accompanied by some descriptive pages, which explain the meaning, lifestyle, art, esoteric rites, cult of the dead, superstitions and the Egyptian world. This is one of the most beautiful 18th century book ever published on Egyptian history and art. The pages are in excellent condition as shown in the photos, white, clean, almost free from defects or stains. Antique binding of the time in good condition and solid.

The exposition of the research on Egypt and North Africa is based on 14 letters (divided into as many chapters) exchanged between Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier and Benoît de Maillet the French, the latter being the real author of the book because he was the consul general in Cairo from 1692 to 1708, during which time he studied the Egyptian pyramids, and at Livorno, Italy (1712–1717). He was French overseer in the Levant and the Barbary states from 1715 until his retirement. This book is an important source for the study of North Africa, the lifestyle in big cities like Cairo and Alexandria, art, temples, alphabet, and religion like animal worshipi of ancient Egyptians. In fact, the book shows in one illustration a specimen of a hippopotamus and a mongoose. In ancient Egypt many animals, like cats, scarab beetles, mongoose or hippopotamuses, were believed to be symbols and have featured heavily in everyday life and religious worship.

Description: in 4to size, height 260 x width 210mm or 10.3 by 8.3 inches. 2 parts/books in 1 volume, XXIV, + 328 + 242 pages + 5 sheets for index, errata and privilege. Plus 1 big map of Africa and Middle East and 8 full page plates (2 fold-out). The text is also enriched by large decorated initials and engraved vignettes as headpieces. Title page in red and black. Rich and elegant iconographic set composed of many vignettes, drop caps, finials. Pages and plates are clean, printed on quality paper, rare blemishes, otherwise excellent copy with wide margins. Contemporary full brown calfskin binding with traces of use, scratches on the boards, corners and edges but solid and functional, spine with 5 raised bands with gold-embossed title and phytomorphic friezes. The engraving work, of great finesse, shows great detail in the illustrations and excellent contrast and sharpness. RARE BOOK AND COMPLETE.

Title: Description de l'Egypte: contenant plusieurs remarques curieuses sur la géographie ancienne et moderne de ce Païs, sur ses monuments anciens, sur ses moeurs, sur le gouvernement et le commerce, sur les animaux, les arbres, les plantes, &c...(Description of Egypt: containing several curious remarks on the ancient and modern geography of this country, on its ancient monuments, on its customs, on the government and commerce, on the animals, the trees, the plants, &c...) Published by Louis Genneau & Jacques Rollin, in Paris, MDCCXXXV (1735).

References: Blackmer 1062; Gay 2105; Hage Chahine, aa 4168; Hilmy I, p. 367; Lorin II, 2577; Clément, Les Français d'Égypte aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, p. 182; Jason Thompson, « Egyptian Encounters », Cairo papers in social science, American Univ. in Cairo Press, vol. 23, no 3,‎ 2002, p. 101; Claudine Cohen, « L'« Anthropologie » de Telliamed », Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, nouvelle Série, vol. 1, nos 3-4,‎ 1989, p. 45-55.

Author: Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier (1697-1760) was a French abbot who devoted himself to translating and editing several works of geography. From his meeting with the French consul in Egypt Benoît de Maillet, in 1692, arose the project of a Description of Egypt and an essay on natural history, Talliamed, for which he wrote the preface. In 1758, Le Mascrier published a bilingual Latin-French edition of the Cantilenae intellectuales de Phœnice redivivo by the Saxon alchemist Michael Maier. The historian Helmut Zedelmaier, in the conclusion of his essay Baumgarten, considers Le Mascrier's essay Idée du gouvernement ancien et moderne de l’Egypte as a refutation of all ancient history.

Author: Benoît de Maillet (1656-1738) was a well-travelled French diplomat and natural historian. He was French consul general at Cairo, and overseer in the Levant. He formulated an evolutionary hypothesis to explain the origin of the Earth and its contents. De Maillet's geological observations convinced him that the earth could not have been created in an instant because the features of the crust indicate a slow development by natural processes. He also believed that creatures on the land were ultimately derived from creatures living in the seas. He was French general consul at Cairo (1692–1708), during which time he studied the Egyptian pyramids, and at Livorno (1712–1717). He was French overseer in the Levant and the Barbary states from 1715 until his retirement. His main work, Telliamed (his name in reverse), was based on manuscripts written between 1722 and 1732 and was published after his death in 1748. The printed text was the result of ten years' editing by the Abbot Jean Baptiste de Mascrier in an attempt to reconcile the proposed system with the dogma of the Catholic Church.

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