[EX TALLEYRAND] Figures de la Bible, 1728

First edition.
One of the most beautiful illustrations of the Bible in the eighteenth century.
This remarkable iconograph of the Bible in which Gérard Hoet and Bernard Picart mainly participated includes 214 full-page plates (29 double-page), the legend of which is written in Hebrew, English, German, Latin, French and Dutch.
The two frontispieces are captioned in French, the rest of the text is written in Dutch. Each chapter ends with a beautiful engraved cul-de-lampe.
This set of prints was first started by Picart in 1720 with the assistance of the Dutch painter Gérard Hoet, for what would undoubtedly become the pinnacle of the "Figures of the Bible". The Figures of the Bible are collections of engravings, which represent or signify Scripture through cycles of prints covering the entire Bible, a single Testament, or even a single biblical book. It is a genre that became popular with printing in the sixteenth century.
Pierre de Hondt, recovers the engravings of Picart, who with his multilingual legends already had a desire for European distribution, to accompany texts by Pierre Saurin (cf. Brunet). Everything is newly decorated with typographic ornaments.

Beautiful copy of Talleyrand at Chateau de Valençay with his ex libris in each volume.