12mo. [39], 411 pp., [4], contemporary mottled calf, slightly rubbed with scuffs on upper cover & spine, gilt title & decoration on raised spine, several woodcut head- and tailpieces, all edges red, title page repaired, missing frontispiece, part of label of title cut, some browning, Pierre Herissant, Paris, first edition, 1695.

Synopsis

First edition. This work seems to be an enlarged version of a work issued the same year by Hérissant under the title “État présent des nations & des églises grecque, armenienne & maronite”. The latter is cited in the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale with only 266 pages and is probably the same work which is described in Blackmer 1297 with the name of the “Sieur De La Croix” on the title, and the date M.DC.CXV, which has been considered a misprint for 1695. The British Library catalogue cites an edition of the État présent with the date “1715”, but this may well be the same edition as the Blackmer and BN editions, considering the nature of the date in Roman numerals. Several members of the family of Pétis de la Croix were for many years active Orientalists and interpreters in the Levant, The Sieur de la Croix, the secretary of the French embassy at Constantinople for many years during the ambassadorship of Nointel, was probably also a member of this family, but we have been unable to confirm this. In some cases the name refers to Pétis de la Croix the younger, but apparently not always.
Bibliographic references: BL. Not in GL; Not in Blackmer but see 1297; BN. See Legrand 17th c. V, 251.