Joseph de ROSNY

First edition.
Contemporary full brown calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with 4 fleurons and roulettes. Burgundy morocco title and volume labels. Gilt roulette border on covers. Gilt edges. Damage at head of volume II. 4 corners slightly bumped. Half-title lacking in second volume. Good copy.
Dictionary of contemporary authors, with brief criticism, much less injurious than the title suggests.

Rare first edition, illustrated with a frontispiece map and 7 plates by Joubert and engraved by Adam.
Later half green shagreen binding, circa 1860. Spine with Jansenist raised bands. Spine sunned, turned brown. Wide margins, except at head. The engravings have smaller outer margins, the text leaves not having been trimmed.
The author establishes the remarkable history of Autun, not its extensive history. He dwells particularly on its great antiquity, at the time when it was the capital of the Aedui, one of the most influential peoples of Gaul, which had many cities under its dependence. The Aedui, whose power was broken by Rome, founded Milan when crossing the Alps. Autun under...