*SOLD*
 
Recherches sur Buddou ou Bouddou [Research on Buddha]
Michel Jean François Ozeray
Paris, 1817
 
8vo (203 x 125 mm). XXXV, (1), 137, (2) pp. Contemporary half-leather, gilt title and fleurons on spine. Head and foot of spine, and joints rubbed, rear joint a bit loose but binding still sound. Half-title with a short marginal tear. A nice, Near Fine copy of an extremely rare book – decently represented in libraries across the world at some 17 copies, but no copies found in the sales records.  
 
“A pioneering work on Buddha and Buddhism…Ozeray’s book represents a landmark in the history of the Western discovery of Buddhism…[It] shed a fair amount of light on living Buddhism in Asian countries and deserves to be recognized as a pioneering contribution to Western knowledge about the religion and its founder…Ozeray managed to stake out a field that is today belabored by many researchers who focus on actual religious practices and beliefs in Asian countries. They may discover that Ozeray’s early 19th-century glimpse of Asia’s greatest religion is rather more congruent with modern fieldwork than the vision prevalent in the vast majority of today’s popular books on Buddhism.” (The First Western Book on Buddhism and Buddha. Ozeray’s Recherches sur Buddou of 1817. Urs App)
 
Super cool, rare, and especially relevant in today’s head-spinningly distracted world.