RAYNAL (Guillaume-Thomas). Histoire philosophique et politique des établissemens et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes. Genève, Jean-Léonard Pellet, 1780. 5 volumes in-4, fawn calf, triple gilt fillet, ornate spine, inner lace, gilt edges (period binding). Third and best edition, partly original, of Abbé Raynal's masterpiece. It is illustrated with a portrait of the author engraved by Delaunay after Cochin and 4 frontispieces by Moreau le jeune in the first four volumes. The fifth volume, the atlas, contains 50 double-page maps by Rigobert Bonne and 23 fold-out statistical tables. A veritable encyclopaedia of European commercial ventures in India and the New World, but also a scathing indictment of slavery and an uncompromising portrayal of the colonial world, Histoire des deux Indes by Abbé Raynal (1713-1796) was placed on the Index by the Church and condemned to destruction by the Paris Parliament. A significant part of the work is not by Raynal, but by Diderot, according to Grimm - the philosophical pages in particular. A fine copy, well bound. Heads skilfully restored, two jaws split, some scattered foxing and spotting. Cohen, 854 - Goldsmiths, n°12007 - Kress, B.314 - Sabin, n°68081 - En français dans le texte, n°166.