This complete three volume set of Histoire des révolutions arrivées dans le gouvernement de la République romaine was published in Paris in 1732 and represents the expanded second edition of one of the most widely read political histories of the early Enlightenment. Its author, Abbé de Vertot, was among the most influential historical writers of his generation, admired for a style that privileged narrative coherence and political insight over archival accumulation.
Vertot’s Rome is not antiquarian in the narrow sense. The Roman Republic is treated as a living political organism, shaped by ambition, civic virtue, faction, and collapse. Ancient history here functions as a mirror for early eighteenth century Europe, where questions of sovereignty, republicanism, and political decay were anything but abstract. For contemporary readers, Vertot’s work offered instruction as much as information.
The present set is bibliographically complete, with correct collation throughout:
Volume I, 421 pages; Volume II, 488 pages; Volume III, 432 pages.
No plates or maps were issued with this edition.
The volumes are preserved in contemporary full calf bindings, with mottled boards, richly gilt spines, and marbled endpapers. The bindings show honest wear, consistent with prolonged use in a learned private library. The text blocks are sound, with age toning and scattered spotting, and the set remains structurally intact.
As an object, this work embodies the way history was read, owned, and understood in the eighteenth century. It stands at the intersection of classical antiquity and Enlightenment political thought, valued not only for what it recounts, but for how history itself was shaped into argument and narrative.
A solid and authentic example of French Enlightenment historiography, preserved as a complete contemporary set.
This complete three volume set of Histoire des révolutions arrivées dans le gouvernement de la République romaine was published in Paris in 1732 and represents the expanded second edition of one of the most widely read political histories of the early Enlightenment. Its author, Abbé de Vertot, was among the most influential historical writers of his generation, admired for a style that privileged narrative coherence and political insight over archival accumulation.
Vertot’s Rome is not antiquarian in the narrow sense. The Roman Republic is treated as a living political organism, shaped by ambition, civic virtue, faction, and collapse. Ancient history here functions as a mirror for early eighteenth century Europe, where questions of sovereignty, republicanism, and political decay were anything but abstract. For contemporary readers, Vertot’s work offered instruction as much as information.
The present set is bibliographically complete, with correct collation throughout:
Volume I, 421 pages; Volume II, 488 pages; Volume III, 432 pages.
No plates or maps were issued with this edition.
The volumes are preserved in contemporary full calf bindings, with mottled boards, richly gilt spines, and marbled endpapers. The bindings show honest wear, consistent with prolonged use in a learned private library. The text blocks are sound, with age toning and scattered spotting, and the set remains structurally intact.
As an object, this work embodies the way history was read, owned, and understood in the eighteenth century. It stands at the intersection of classical antiquity and Enlightenment political thought, valued not only for what it recounts, but for how history itself was shaped into argument and narrative.
A solid and authentic example of French Enlightenment historiography, preserved as a complete contemporary set.
Image 1 of 10
Image 2 of 10
Image 3 of 10
Image 4 of 10
Image 5 of 10
Image 6 of 10
Image 7 of 10
Image 8 of 10
Image 9 of 10
Image 10 of 10