Monchablon - Dictionnaire abrégé d’antiquités - 1777

MONCHABLON, ÉTIENNE-JOSEPH. — ABRIDGED DICTIONARY OF ANTIQUITIES (PARIS, DESAINT & SAILLANT, 1777).
Paris: Desaint & Saillant, 1777.
12mo. Full contemporary calfskin binding, spine with gilded raised bands.
Parisian edition from the end of Louis XVI’s reign printed by the famous Parisian bookselling couple of the University, Desaint & Saillant, located on rue Saint-Jean-de-Beauvais opposite the College.

Originally devised to facilitate the reading of poets and historians of Antiquity (Cicero, Virgil, Livy, Homer) in Parisian colleges, this compact work condenses the erudition of the great antiquaries of the eighteenth century (Montfaucon, Caylus) into a handy and accessible format. It covers both daily life in antiquity and the organization of the Olympic Games, sacred sacrifices, or Roman magistracies.

Very fine copy preserved in its period full calf binding. Ornately bound spine with particularly luminous gauze-gilt in the compartments. Original title label perfectly preserved and legible. Very light wear to the headcaps and corners, binding very solid and in excellent overall condition. Interior very clean and with a pleasing freshness on laid paper. Title page well printed with the price of the period.

At a time when all educated youth of the Ancien Régime was expected to master Greek and Latin, this dictionary, lined up by a master of the University of Paris, served as a genuine erudition cheat-sheet!