DU HALDE (Jean-Baptiste). Description géographique, historiq - Lot 92

DU HALDE (Jean-Baptiste). Description géographique, historique, chronologique, politique, et physique de l'Empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie chinoise Paris, P. G. Le Mercier, 1735. 4 volumes in-folio, contemporary brown calf, richly decorated spines, red and havana morocco titles and greefs, red edges, minor restorations (moderate wear defects, epidermis and stains on boards, small wormholes on spines; numerous wormholes throughout with occasional damage to maps, a few defects on plates including a small tear). and stains on boards, small wormholes on spines; numerous wormholes throughout the volumes, sometimes affecting the maps; many defects on the plates, including a small tear on map t.1. p. 242, crack without damage to map t.4 p. 422). First edition of this remarkable work, which offered the European public an original, rich and precise approach to the Chinese world. It is the masterwork of Jesuit Father J.-B. Du Halde (1674-1743), who drew most of his material from the reports of his fellow missionaries, published in particular in the famous Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, écrites des Missions étrangères, which he edited from 1711 to 1743. Thus, without ever having been to China, Du Halde was able to produce this highly erudite work, touching on every facet of the country described, its geography and history, but also the customs, traditions and religious practices of its inhabitants, as well as all its practical and technical activities. The entirely copper-engraved illustrations comprise 65 plates, including 43 maps (42 of which, devoted to the Chinese provinces, are the work of Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, and one, of Korea, is by Jesuit cartographer and missionary Jean-Baptiste Régis). (Cordier, Bibl. sinica 45; Sommervogel IV, 35; Brunet II, 870).