Explication historique des fables, ou l'on decouvre leur origine & leur conformité avec l'histoire ancienne

New edition, partly in first edition and expanded with a third volume, after the first published in 1711 in two volumes; it is illustrated with a title-frontispiece by Scotin engraved by Delamonce.
Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label, and brown morocco volume label. Head-caps worn. Tail-cap of volume I split. Overall rubbed. 10 corners slightly bumped.
Endowed with the thesis that poets were the first historians, Abbé Banier undertakes to decipher the historical meaning of mythology and the true sources of fables. The work became a classic and enjoyed great success. The whole is written in the form of dialogues, a fashionable form at the time. Numerous footnotes. The third volume adds the study of several myths: that of Hercules, of Jason and the golden fleece, of Theseus, of the Trojan war, and an explanation of Ovid's metamorphoses.