Huet - Histoire du Commerce et de la Navigation - 1763

Commerce as the origin of power, the sea as a battlefield
The History of Commerce and Navigation by Pierre-Daniel Huet is one of the most ambitious and insightful texts of 18th-century Europe on the origins of economic and maritime civilization. It is not a technical manual nor an episodic chronicle, but a true historical construction that links commerce, navigation, political power, and the development of societies.
Huet, a scholar of vast knowledge and a central figure in French intellectuality, approaches the subject with a critical method, philological rigor, and a clear modern awareness: trade is not a side effect of history, but one of its structural causes.
Market value
In the European antiquarian market, the 18th-century editions of Histoire du commerce et de la navigation des anciens generally range between 1,200 and 2,200 euros for complete copies in well-preserved contemporary binding. Copies with fine full leather bindings and fresh paper, such as those from scholarly libraries, can exceed these values. Demand remains steady, especially among collectors of economic, maritime, and Enlightenment thought history.

Physical description and condition
Next binding in full brown leather, spine with titles and gold tooling, boards with slight abrasions, red cuts. Text arranged in a single column, ornamental headpieces and woodcut tailpieces. Allegorical typographic mark with an eagle in flight bearing the motto 'De plano ad altum'. Some scattered foxing. In ancient books with a multi-century history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 24nn; 496; (2).

Full title and author
History of Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients
Lyon, at Benoît Duplain's, 1763.
Pierre-Daniel Huet

Context and Significance
The work originates within the great historiographical and antiquarian movement in France that, between the 17th and 18th centuries, aimed to reinterpret the ancient world using rational and comparative tools. Huet analyzes Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and Eastern peoples, showing how navigation and trade preceded and supported military and political expansion. Ports, routes, goods, alliances, and conflicts become elements of a global history avant la lettre. The dedication to Colbert, a key figure in French mercantilism, clarifies the political subtext of the work: understanding the ancients to govern the moderns.

Biography of the Author
Pierre-Daniel Huet was born in Caen in 1630 and died in Paris in 1721. Bishop of Avranches, philologist, historian, and member of the Académie Française, he was one of the most erudite intellectuals of his time. He engaged in theology, philosophy, sciences, classical philology, and history, with a critical and comparative approach that places him among the precursors of the Enlightenment. His work profoundly influenced European historical and scientific thought.

Printing history and circulation
The history of commerce and navigation by the ancients knew various editions throughout the 18th century, indicating broad and lasting reception. The Lyon edition published by Benoît Duplain fits into the phase of full canonization of the text, aimed at an educated and institutional audience. The 18th-century editions remain the most sought after today, as they are closer to the original framework of the work and its Enlightenment fortune.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
BnF, General Catalog, Huet, History of Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients.
WorldCat, seventeenth-century editions of the work.
Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature, Huet.
Perrot, Jean-Claude, An Intellectual History of Political Economy in France.