[Edme Mentelle]; [Gabriel Mailhol] — Anecdotes Orientales

Paris, Chez Vincent, Imprimeur-Libraire, 1773. First edition. Leather. The first edition of this French 18th-century work attributed to Edme Mentelle, giving historical tales of various Asian dynasties. First edition.  Complete in two volumes.  In a contemporary full mottled calf, with red morocco spine labels. Retaining the original endpapers and blanks. Front board to the first volume detached. Woodcut head and tail pieces.  Containing accounts of the Kings of Persia, the Sophi Dynasty, the Mughals or Emperors of Hindustan, and the Turkish Sultans of the Ottoman family, from the founding of these great Empires to the present day.  Anonymously published, though attributed to influential French geographer and educator, who taught at the Ecole Militaire and the Ecole Normale, and whose textbooks and atlases were widely used in the late 18th century. In a contemporary full mottled calf. Externally, front board to Volume I detached. Front joint to Vol II strained to the head. Rubbing to the extremities and fading to the spines, with a vertical crack down the backstrip of Vol II. Bookplate of a member of the Kinnaird family to Vol II front paste down. Internally, front free endpaper working loose to Vol II, otherwise firmly bound. Toning to the first and last couple leaves, otherwise generally bright and clean, with the occasional light spots to Vol II. Tide mark to Vol I fore-edge, visible to the leaves to varying degrees. Good Only . Ill.: None. Good Only .