Volland

First French edition. The original edition appeared in Geneva in 1791. Illustrated with 3 plates, a frontispiece and two folding: a hemispheric map and an astrological one.
Contemporary full marbled sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated. Red morocco title label. Upper headcap worn. Rubbing to joints and edges.
Famous work by the philosopher Volney in which personal memories, philosophy and reflections alternate. While the general subject is a questioning of the disappearance and ruin of empires (Volney begins his book with a meditation on the collapse of Palmyra), the work addresses multiple related themes: origins of religious cults, symbolism, worship of stars. The book excels through its lyrical style and allegories. Volney, remembering Herodotus, trusts as a historian only in facts, and he interrogates the ruins so that they might reveal to him the ruin of an empire and a city.