BARRE (Joseph). Histoire générale d'Allemagne. Paris, Charle - Lot 541

BARRE (Joseph). Histoire générale d'Allemagne. Paris, Charles J. B. Delespine et Jean-Thomas Hérissant, 1748. 10 volumes in 11 vol. in-4°. Marbled fawn calf, 5 ribbed spine with fleurons, red morocco title page, fawn morocco gutter, double gilt fillet on the edges, red edges (period binding). Unique edition of this monumental Germanic history. Frontispiece engraved by Le Bas after Caze, portrait of Frédéric Auguste III engraved by Daullé after Silvestre, 3 folding maps, 11 title vignettes engraved by Le Bas after Eisen, 62 head and foot plates engraved by Le Bas after himself, Frontier, Canot and Gravelot. A publication "of great intellectual and financial scope", Father Joseph Barré's work owes much to his own research, but also to his correspondence with German historians and jurists. Braun, La connaissance du Saint-Empire en France du baroque aux Lumières 1643-1756, pp. 568-sqq; Brunet, I, col. 666; Cohen-de Ricci col. 113-114. Inside margin staining on first 2 quires of vol. V, with damage to bowl of vignette p. 1, and faux-titre of vol. VIII, a few quires browned, occasional foxing, small worm work to table at end of vol. VI, without damage to text. Fine set in contemporary binding.