4 vols., 8vo., publishers green wrappers, pages uncut, pp. 404, [1]; 455, [1]; 348, [1]; 396, [1]. Wrappers a little worn in places, the spine exteriors creased and beginning to crack in places, pages foxed; otherwise very good. Prodigious and yet much overlooked, Louise-Marie-Victoire de Chastenay (1771-1855), commonly known as Victorine de Chastenay, was a French polymath and translator who wrote on a variety of topics from the language of flowers to the history of Norman knights in Italy and Sicily. She translated a several literary works from English into French, including Ann Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho. This impressive four-volume study considers the history of religion, philosophy and literature across the Asian continent from Egypt to China. Text in French.
