244 - LACROIX (Paul) & SERÉ (Ferdinand). The Middle Ages and the Renaissance: A History and Description of Customs and Practices, Commerce and Industry, the Sciences, the Arts, Literature, and the Fine Arts in Europe. Paris, n.p., 1848–51.

LACROIX (Paul) & SERÉ (Ferdinand). The Middle Ages and the Renaissance: A History and Description of Customs and Practices, Commerce and Industry, the Sciences, the Arts, Literature, and the Fine Arts in Europe. Paris, n.p., 1848–51. 5 large quarto volumes, red morocco, richly decorated raised bands on the spine, triple gilt fillet framing the covers, double gilt fillet on the edges, wide gilt inner border, gilt head (bound by Adolphe Bertrand). First edition of one of the finest works on this subject. It is richly illustrated with a color frontispiece, 250 chromolithographs, 247 black-and-white plates, and countless in-text figures. The work contains: Volume 1: conditions of people and lands, superstitions and popular beliefs, the Feast of Fools, feudal privileges and rights, privileges of towns and communes, etc., chivalry, universities, colleges, and schools, accursed races, Jews, hunting, etc. Volume 2: philosophical sciences, chemistry and alchemy, surgery, pharmacy, maritime affairs, languages, dialects, proverbs, folk songs, Christmas carols, etc., manuscripts, miniatures, parchment and paper, playing cards, clockmaking, tapestry, etc. Volume 3: Ecclesiastical ceremonies, ceremonial and etiquette, guilds and trades, commerce, criminal law, private life in castles, towns, and the countryside, fashions and costumes, goldsmithing, etc. Volume 4: Natural sciences, occult sciences, heraldry, musical instruments, national poetry, sacred rhetoric, secular rhetoric, theater, secular and religious furnishings, armory, ceramics, horsemanship, saddlery, etc. Volume 5: religious and civil architecture, military architecture, sculpture, painting on wood and copper, etc., mural painting, painting on glass, mosaics, and enamels, engraving, printing, bookbinding, etc. A superb copy, free of foxing, bound in period morocco leather.