CEREMONIES ET COUTUMES RELIGIEUSES DE TOUS LES PEUPLES DU MONDE, REPRESENTEES PAR DES FIGURES DESSINEES & GRAVEES... Ouvrage qui comprend l'histoire philosophique de la religion des nations des deux hemispheres; telles que celle des Brames, des Peguans, des Chinois, des Japonois, des Thibetins, & celle des differens peuples qui habitent l'Asie & les Isles de l'Archipelage Indien; celle des Mexicains, des Peruviens, des Bresiliens, des Groenlandois, des Lapons, des Caffres, de tous les Peuples de la Nigritie, de l'Ethiopie & du Monomotapa; celle des Juifs, tant anciens que modernes, celle des Musulmans & des differentes sectes qui la composent; enfin celle des Chretiens & de cette multitude de branches dans lesquelles elle est subdivisee.

Amsterdam: Laporte, 1789. Hardcover. Contents quite clean with a minimum of foxing; occasional tear or crease rarely with any effect on an image. Bindings with edgewear, spines deteriorated; boards detached on the third volume, the front board nearly detached on the first. Bindings quite worn but contents Very Good. Four folio (10" x 16") volumes bound in calf-backed marbled boards of one of the most spectacular illustrated works of the 18th-century. Illustrated with 263 engravings, all but 1 full page and some with more than one image, and including 41 large folding plates. First published in 1723 with 223 copper engravings, this edition is enlarged and appears to be the last published in the 18th century and in folio size. The plates, many double-page, illustrate in great detail scenes of religious ceremonies, views of temples and churches, and religious costumes. This edition is not in Sabin. Bookplates of O'Connell and Adolph Grant on the pastedowns.

Perhaps the best known illustrated history of religion of the 18th century, this work is especially noteworthy for its depictions of Jewish religious customs as well as a number of plates after De Bry of Native American ceremonies. "Picart earned a place in the history of Jewish art by his realistic portrayal of Jewish religious rites. These constitute an invaluable record of Dutch Jewry in the early 18th-century" (ENCYCLOPEDIA JUDAICA).