Histoire générale des cérémonies, moeurs, et coutumes religieuses de tous les Peuples du Monde.

Fine, fresh example, attractively bound, of the most elaborate history of world religion published up to that time, profusely illustrated with more than 300 engravings.

Picart 'earned a place in the history of Jewish art by his realistic portrayal of Jewish religious rites. These constitute an invaluable record of Dutch Jewry in the early eighteenth century... [He] sought out Jews in the synagogue and in their homes in order to acquaint himself with their ceremonies. In his picture of a Passover celebration the artist himself can be seen, hatless, participating in a meal.' (Ency. Judaica, 13, 498). Other volumes cover Islam, the Americas, the Quakers and Hinduism in detail.

Despite condemnation from the Catholic church, the publication of this work was a resounding success. 'Ceremonies and customs prepared the ground for religious toleration amid seemingly unending religious conflict, and demonstrated the impact of the global on Western consciousness [...] as it shaped development of a modern, secular understanding of religion' (Hunt)

The present second edition is the first published in France (after Amsterdam), with a text much corrected and sometimes fully rewritten by Lemascrier, who is also the author of a group of dissertations on the same subject, included here for the first time.