NIEUHOF (Jean). L'ambassade de la Compagnie orientale des Pr - Lot 155

NIEUHOF (Jean). L'ambassade de la Compagnie orientale des Provinces Unies vers l'empereur de la Chine. Leiden, Jacob de Meurs, 1665. 2 parts in 1 vol. in-folio, (10)-290 p. and (2)-134-(1) p., contemporary mottled havana calf, ornate ribbed spine, red title-piece, rubbed edges, restorations (rubbed nerves, frontispiece and portrait remounted, perhaps brought back, as well as a plate, browned map, stained portrait, p. 83-86 repaired, freckles). 1 € First edition of the French translation by Jean Le Carpentier. It is one of the first descriptions of China by Westerners. The illustrations include an allegorical frontispiece, a portrait of Colbert to whom this edition is dedicated, a large folding map, 34 double-page plates (views of Chinese cities, plan of the Imperial City, etc.) and 110 vignettes in the text (flora, fauna, customs, etc.). "Thanks to its wealth of information, this work remained one of the great reference books on China's interior well into the 20th century. Its interest also lies in its iconography: it preserves for us images of most of the towns and curiosities that the ambassadors discovered along the way, in the form of intaglio engravings. These are generally of exceptional quality" (Michel Schlup, Voyageurs au Levant et dans la Grande Asie du XVIIe au XIX siècle). The second part of the work, preceded by a special title page, Description générale de l'empire de la Chine, contains observations on history, politics, religion, science and mores. (Chadenat, I, 140; Cordier, Sinica, 2345-2346). Provenance: Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), French naturalist (bookplate stamped on title); cancelled stamp of the Muséum d'Histoire naturelle.