Small 8vo. Volume I: xx, 355 pp., / Volume II: 440 pp., [24 publisher’s catalogue], 3 folding maps of Jerusalem, the Crusader city of Acre which was taken by Saladin in 1187 and the region of Acre, contemporary marbled full calf, title gilt on raised decorated spine, title vignettes, marbled edges and end papers, Bookplate of Jacques Godemel verso front covers, small crack to top spine of volume 1, small tear to lower endpaper of volume 1 and front endpaper of volume 2, occasional light foxing, otherwise set in very good condition, Van Daalen, La Haye, first edition, 1758.

Synopsis

François-Louis-Claude Marin was a man of letters, editor, journalist and a French royal censor. “His ‘History of Saladin’ is a testimony of the French Enlightenment and embodies the struggle against religious fanaticism and every type of intolerance. It is characterised by the author’s conviction of the power of tolerance. In accordance with his anticlerical attitude he stood for the idea of tolerance depicted by the virtues of Saladin. For his history and biography, precisely documented and including cultural and historical correlation, Marin resorted mainly to Arabic sources and compared these with those of Latin chroniclers of whom he was extremely critical.” Marc Edouard Enay in “The Crusades, The Era And
Results”. Tilliard also published the title in the same year in Paris.
Bibliographic references: Ibrahim Hilmy II, 17; Gay 2132; Brunet 28372; and Mayer 2075. Atabey 768; not in Blackmer.