£300
4 vols., 12mo, pp. xxii, [ii], 406; [iv], 432; [iv], 430; [iv], 453, [1]. Errata leaves discarded from vols. 2-4. Contemporary sprinkled calf, boards bordered with triple gilt rules enclosing corner gilt tools, spines divided by triple gilt rules, brown morocco labels to 2nd and 3rd compartments, other compartments tooled elaborately in gilt, marbled edges and endpapers. A little rubbed, a few small marks to boards.
An attractively-bound expanded revised version of a three volume set from 1764 which also claimed a London publication, possibly erroneously. Adding to the deception the '2 Swedish gentlemen' credited with its composition in the subtitle were in fact 1 French gentleman, Pierre-Jean Grosley, (1718-1785) man of letters and contributor to Diderot's Encyclopédie. His qualifications for this work however were no sham, he spent time in Italy in the 1740s as a military administrator during the War of Austrian Succession. Scarce, with ESTC recording 4 locations, BL, NLS, Royal Irish Academy and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Worldcat not adding anything concrete amid the tangle of electronic and microfilm holdings.
