RARE! First volume of the 1730 edition of Pierre Bayle`s magnum opus, the "Historical and Critical Dictionary", a comprehensive proto-encyclopedia of persons and philosophies which had a tremendous effect on the European Enlightenment movement. This edition is appended a lengthly biography of the author. Includes an elegant woodcut on title page. 410x250mm, CXVI+719 pages. Brown leather hardcover with gilt lettering and decoration on spine. Front and back covers detached. Covers worn, rubbed and cracked. Cover edges bumped. Spine faded and bumped. Sections of spine missing. Ex libris sticker on endpaper. Whitepage edges chipped.Page 719, whitepage and rear whitepage detached. Stamp on rear endpaper. Pen inscription parallel to title page. Pages yellowing with some aging stains. Page edges stained. Despite the external damage it has sustained, this rare 18th-century edition of the precursor to the famous Encyclopedia is internally in good condition.