STRUYS (Jan Janszoon). Les voyages en Moscovie, en Tartarie, - Lot 135

STRUYS (Jan Janszoon). Les voyages en Moscovie, en Tartarie, en Perse, aux Indes & en plusieurs autres païs étrangers A quoi l'on a ajouté la Relation d'un naufrage, dont les suites ont produit des effets extraordinaires. A Amstredam, chés la Vve de J. van Meurs, 1681. Two parts in 1 volume in-4, [8] f. (including frontispiece), 360 p., [8] f. (table and 1 bl. f.), [3] f. (including frontispiece) ; 80 p., fr., pl., contemporary brown calf, 5-ribbed spine, gilt title and fleurons (defects including rubbing, uncovered headpieces, worn corners; f. Vv1 (pp. 337-8) and 11 plates lacking). First edition of the first French translation of this important travel account, originally published in Dutch in 1676. Between 1647 and 1672, the Dutch explorer Jan Janszoon Struys made three voyages that took him successively to the Cape Verde Islands, then to Madagascar, the Kingdom of Siam and Japan (1st voyage), then to Venice, Turkey and Greece (2nd voyage), and finally to Dagestan and Persia (3rd voyage). The illustration, entirely engraved on copper, consists of a title-frontispiece, a fold-out map of the Caspian Sea, and 19 double plates (here 8 of 19), depicting various cities visited, natives, scenes of procession and torture, and so on. The second part, recounting the shipwreck of a Dutch vessel, is illustrated with a frontispiece and 8 copper-engraved compositions in the text. (Chadenat, 5136; Cordier, Sinica, 2083-2084). Provenance: ms. ex-dono of 1859 on upper flyleaf.