Description: Constantin-Francois Volney, The Ruins: Or a Survey of The Revolutions of Empires: A New Translation from French. Philadelphia; Printed By James Lyon, and Sold at His Bookstore, Richmond, Also by The Principal Booksellers in The United States. 1799. Two extraordinary fold out maps of “A View of the Astrological Heaven of The Ancients” and of Eurasia and Africa. Original Full Leather. 406 pages with 45 pages of endnotes. 8vo. Original leather in good condition. Gilt raised bands and maroon label. Previous owner’s name on front end paper. Yellowed throughout and occasional foxing as to be expected. See photos. C.F. Volney was a French Philosopher, abolitionist, historian, orientalist, and politician. A friend of Pierre Jean George Cabanis, the Marquis de Condorcet, the Baron d’Holbach, and Benjamin Franklin. He embarked on his journey to the East in late 1782 and reached Ottoman Egypt, where he spent nearly seven months. He embarked on Greater Syria, now Lebanon, for nearly two years where he learned Arabic. He returned to France in 1785 and began compiling his notes on his travels and observations. He was a member of both the Estates-General and of the National Constituent Assembly after the outbreak of the French Revolution. He was thrown into prison during the Jacobin Club triumph, but escaped execution. In 1795 he was accused by John Adams of being a French spy sent to prepare for the reoccupation of Louisiana. Thomas Jefferson entered a secret arrangement whereby he would translate “Ruins of Empires” Volney visited Monticello and met several times at the American Philosophical Society. Jefferson, then serving as Vice President under John Adams, appreciated the book’s central theme— that empires rise if government allows enlightened self-interest to flourish. This theme, Jefferson believed, represented an excellent summary of the Enlightenment-based principles upon which the United States was founded. Heresy, celestial. RAREA1799BLNA.
Price: 450 USD
Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
End Time: 2024-11-16T16:23:03.000Z
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Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Year Printed: 1799
Topic: Historical
Binding: Leather
Author: Constantin-Francois Volney
Subject: History
Original/Facsimile: Original
Language: English
Publisher: James Lyon
Place of Publication: Philadelphia
Special Attributes: Translated from French First Edition
