Recherches sur l'origine du despotisme oriental

New edition following the original posthumous edition published by D'Holbach (some attribute partial authorship to him) in 1761.
The edition does contain the letter to Helvetius absent from most reissues.
Contemporary full grained calf binding. Smooth spine with ornaments. The gilding appears to have been renewed on the title-label. Quite a handsome copy.This famous political treatise was initially written to serve as an introduction to reading Montesquieu's The Spirit of Laws, the work concluding moreover with remarks on that work. The work was incorporated into The Encyclopedia in abridged form under the article Political Economy. It is in theocracy that Boulanger locates the origin of oriental despotism. Boulanger gives numerous examples of traces of ancient theocracies in the behavior of despots and despotism.Some critics believe that the original work was indeed by Boulanger but that it was revised by d'Holbach in light of his own theories.20th-century armorial bookplate, library of P. Daubignard, and matching stamp.