MORERY, Louis. Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique, ou Le Mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane. Published in Amsterdam by Boom and Van Someren, Pierre Mortier, and Henri Desbordes, in Utrecht by Guillaume Van de Water and in The Hague by Adrien Moetjens in 1694. In 4 volumes of In-folio format. Full brown basane, ribbed spines decorated with flowered caissons, title in gold lettering on red morocco, roulettes on the edges. Contemporary binding. 21 ff.n.ch., 522 pp. 1 f.n.ch. (privilege) ; 572 pp. ; 582 pp. ; 588 pp. 1 engraved allegorical frontispiece in volume 1, several engraved bands, ornamented lettrines and culs-de-lampe. Title page printed in black and red. Text on two columns. All rubbed and scuffed, headpieces missing, headband torn off in Volume 1, some cuts dull, corners trimmed and bare. Some pages browned or creased, scattered foxing. Period handwritten annotations on the false titles and marginally on the rest of the book. Interiors generally well preserved. Seventh edition, with supplement, numerous articles and remarks, of this famous historical dictionary by Jean Moreri. Considered the first French encyclopedia of proper names, this work was a great bestseller and was reprinted 20 times between 1674 and 1759, before being replaced by Diderot and d'Alembert's famous Encyclopedia, to which it is an important addition. The author compiled a vast number of articles on historical figures, places, religious facts, secular events, genealogies, rulers, saints and more. A fine contemporary copy, complete in 4 volumes, of the most famous of historical dictionaries. Deserves restoration.