Illustrated title page.

Binding: contemporary diced russia; panelled spine lettered in gilt; gilt edges.

Illustrated manuscript in a single formal hand containing extended discussions of archaeological finds, ancient religious beliefs, magic and sexual practices, and comparative philology and ethnography. The first 120 pages are extensively illustrated with pen drawings and deal with British antiquities, particularly coins, inscribed stones, funerary monuments, "pyramids," vases, and metalwork. The author discusses his theories concerning Druidic religion and offers drawings intended to highlight Druidic sexual practices and fertility worship. He includes large illustrations of Stonehenge, the Rollright Stones, and the wall system at Tilbury as well.

The remainder of the work is less heavily illustrated and considers French antiquities within the context of a larger discussion of ancient languages, cults and rites. The author's thesis is that all Western languages and religions derive from the Egyptians, and this section displays his interest in the occult, with notes on vampires and werewolves as well as on necromancy.

Druids and druidism > Early works to 1800.

Learning and scholarship > France.

Philology > Early works to 1800.

Antiquarians > France.

Egypt > Antiquities.

France > Antiquities.

Great Britain > Antiquities.

Stonehenge (England) > In art.