Herbelot's Bibliotheque orientale 1781-83

HERBELOT, (BARTHÉLEMY) DE. (6). Bibliotheque orientale, ou dictionnaire universel, contenant tout ce qui fait connoître les peuples de l'Orient; leurs histoires & traditions, tant fabuleuses que véritables; leurs religions & leurs sectes; leuurs gouvernemens, loix, politique. moeurs, coutumes; & les révolutions de leurs empires, &c. Nouvelle edition. I-VI. Paris (chez Moutard) 1781-83.8:o. Later (early 19th century) brown half leather, worn, gilt spines, some damages at head and foot, speckled edges. Faded old library stamps on haltitle and title. 6 volumes. Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville (1625 - 1695), French Orientalist. His great work is the Bibliothèque orientale, which occupied him nearly all his life, and was completed in 1697 by Antoine Galland. It is based on the immense Arabic bibliography (the Kashf al-Zunun) of Hadji Khalfa (Katip Çelebi), of which indeed it is largely an abridged translation, but it also contains the substance of a vast number of other Arabic and Turk