1780 First Edition With Provenance
A NEW UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF THE RELIGIOUS RITES
By William Hurd D.D.
KEY DETAILS
Condition: Good
Format: Hardcover, folio (fo 12 × 19 in 305 × 483 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Published By: Alexander Hogg, London, 1780
Language: English
Illustrated By: Various
Provenance: Early ownership inscription (twice, first blank page and title page): “William Massey, 1781”; bookplate removed from front pastedown.
Collation: iv, [2], [5]–1704 [i.e. 704], xii, [4] pp; [61] leaves of plates. Complete: engraved frontispiece + 60 full-page copper plates (61 engraved leaves total); with “Explanation of the Frontispiece” leaf; and with 4pp subscribers list at end.
Dust Jacket: None, as issued
SKU: BTETM0001984
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 3Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
DESCRIPTION
A New Universal History of the Religious Rites
and Ceremonies and Customs of the Whole World
Or a complete and impartial view of all the religions in the various nations of the universe; both antient and modern, from the creation down to the present time.
PROVENANCE
Early ownership inscription (twice, first blank page and title page): “William Massey, 1781”; bookplate removed from front pastedown.
CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
COLLATION
iv, [2], [5]–1704 [i.e. 704], xii, [4] pp; [61] leaves of plates. Complete: engraved frontispiece + 60 full-page copper plates (61 engraved leaves total); with “Explanation of the Frontispiece” leaf; and with 4pp subscribers list at end.
Full calf folio; both boards present but detached. Text block firm and clean. Complete as collated (including full plate suite, explanation leaf, and subscribers list). A handsome, scarce folio with stunning, bold engravings throughout.
Plates credited on the title-page to Messrs. Walker, Collyer, Taylor &c.
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
SYNOPSIS
A monumental late-eighteenth-century folio survey of global religious practice — rites, ceremonies, festivals, sacred architecture, clerical dress, and “curious customs” — designed as a compendious family library of comparative religion. The work is richly embellished with a complete suite of large folio copper-engraved plates depicting ceremonies and devotional life across cultures, accompanied by extensive letterpress text.
Synopsis: Author / work context:
Issued in 60 parts and later bound as a single imposing folio volume, this is one of the grand illustrated “universal histories” of the period: part ethnography, part encyclopaedia, and part devotional compendium, mapping Christian denominations alongside non-European and pre-Christian rites as understood by an eighteenth-century English readership.
Synopsis:
A striking visual and textual panorama of world religion at the cusp of modern comparative study. The engravings are the star — bold, theatrical scenes of worship, procession, sacrifice, initiation, and sacred costume — while the text offers an expansive (and period-typical) attempt to systematise belief and ritual across nations and eras.
AUTHOR BIO
William Hurd, D.D. is the name credited on the title pages of A New Universal History of the Religious Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs of the Whole World (issued in parts and published in book form from around 1780, with later reprints such as 1799). The work is essentially a large English compilation/rewriting in the tradition of Bernard Picart’s illustrated surveys of world religions and ceremonies (hence the many folio copper plates).
Beyond that credit line (“D.D.”), reliable biographical details about a distinct 18th-century “William Hurd” associated with this book are surprisingly scarce in common reference sources.
ILLUSTRATOR
Various
1780 First Edition With Provenance
A NEW UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF THE RELIGIOUS RITES
By William Hurd D.D.
KEY DETAILS
Condition: Good
Format: Hardcover, folio (fo 12 × 19 in 305 × 483 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Published By: Alexander Hogg, London, 1780
Language: English
Illustrated By: Various
Provenance: Early ownership inscription (twice, first blank page and title page): “William Massey, 1781”; bookplate removed from front pastedown.
Collation: iv, [2], [5]–1704 [i.e. 704], xii, [4] pp; [61] leaves of plates. Complete: engraved frontispiece + 60 full-page copper plates (61 engraved leaves total); with “Explanation of the Frontispiece” leaf; and with 4pp subscribers list at end.
Dust Jacket: None, as issued
SKU: BTETM0001984
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 3Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
DESCRIPTION
A New Universal History of the Religious Rites
and Ceremonies and Customs of the Whole World
Or a complete and impartial view of all the religions in the various nations of the universe; both antient and modern, from the creation down to the present time.
PROVENANCE
Early ownership inscription (twice, first blank page and title page): “William Massey, 1781”; bookplate removed from front pastedown.
CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
COLLATION
iv, [2], [5]–1704 [i.e. 704], xii, [4] pp; [61] leaves of plates. Complete: engraved frontispiece + 60 full-page copper plates (61 engraved leaves total); with “Explanation of the Frontispiece” leaf; and with 4pp subscribers list at end.
Full calf folio; both boards present but detached. Text block firm and clean. Complete as collated (including full plate suite, explanation leaf, and subscribers list). A handsome, scarce folio with stunning, bold engravings throughout.
Plates credited on the title-page to Messrs. Walker, Collyer, Taylor &c.
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
SYNOPSIS
A monumental late-eighteenth-century folio survey of global religious practice — rites, ceremonies, festivals, sacred architecture, clerical dress, and “curious customs” — designed as a compendious family library of comparative religion. The work is richly embellished with a complete suite of large folio copper-engraved plates depicting ceremonies and devotional life across cultures, accompanied by extensive letterpress text.
Synopsis: Author / work context:
Issued in 60 parts and later bound as a single imposing folio volume, this is one of the grand illustrated “universal histories” of the period: part ethnography, part encyclopaedia, and part devotional compendium, mapping Christian denominations alongside non-European and pre-Christian rites as understood by an eighteenth-century English readership.
Synopsis:
A striking visual and textual panorama of world religion at the cusp of modern comparative study. The engravings are the star — bold, theatrical scenes of worship, procession, sacrifice, initiation, and sacred costume — while the text offers an expansive (and period-typical) attempt to systematise belief and ritual across nations and eras.
AUTHOR BIO
William Hurd, D.D. is the name credited on the title pages of A New Universal History of the Religious Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs of the Whole World (issued in parts and published in book form from around 1780, with later reprints such as 1799). The work is essentially a large English compilation/rewriting in the tradition of Bernard Picart’s illustrated surveys of world religions and ceremonies (hence the many folio copper plates).
Beyond that credit line (“D.D.”), reliable biographical details about a distinct 18th-century “William Hurd” associated with this book are surprisingly scarce in common reference sources.
ILLUSTRATOR
Various
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