VOLNEY (Constantin-François, comte de) - Voyage en Syrie et - Lot 268

VOLNEY (Constantin-François, comte de) - Voyage en Syrie et en Égypte pendant les années 1783, 1784 et 1785. Paris, Dessenne et Volland, 1788; in-8, XVI-383 + VIII-462 pp, bound in contemporary full marbled calf, decorated smooth spines, gilt edges, green morocco titles and red morocco endpapers, fillets on boards. All 3 volumes. 2 folding maps and 3 folding engravings. Constantin-François Chasseboeuf de la Giraudais, comte de Volney, was a French philosopher and orientalist, and one of the fathers of ethnology, anthropology and sociology. As a young man, he studied medicine, oriental languages, history and law. He met Franklin, d'Holbach and Diderot, who confirmed his atheism. He learned Arabic and set off on a journey to Syria and Egypt, which he published on his return. He left for Brittany, to promote his revolutionary ideas at the Estates General in 1789. Elected to the Constituent Assembly, he went to Corsica and met Napoleon. He taught at the Ecole Normale. Later, he visited the United States, became close friends with Napoleon, even before his coup d'état, but soon fell out with him, appointing him a senator in spite of it all. He died in 1820. Sur Les Ruines, ou Méditations sur les Empires evokes the principle by which empires are born, prosper and eventually perish. Nevertheless, Volney advocated religious tolerance, as a precursor of secularism. Very good condition.