TACHARD (Guy). Second voyage du Père Tachard et des Jésuites - Lot 219

TACHARD (Guy). Second voyage du Père Tachard et des Jésuites envoyés par le Roy au Royaume de Siam contenant diverses remarques d'histoire, de physique, de géographie et d'astronomie. Paris, Daniel Horthemels, 1689. In-4, (8)-416-(12) p., contemporary brown calf, spine ribbed, gilt title, edges blotched, headpieces and corners restored (moderate browning, snag in margin p.117-126). First edition. Illustrated with an engraved portrait of the author on the title page, two header vignettes, and 6 folding engraved plates. After a first mission to Siam (1685), Jesuit Father Guy Tachard (1651-1712) returned to France accompanied by the Siamese ambassador, Kosan Pan, who brought a proposal of alliance and the mission of obtaining from Louis XIV the dispatch of twelve Jesuit mathematicians to the court of the Siamese king, Narai. Tachard left Brest on March 4, 1687 with the ambassador, the director of the Compagnie des Indes and the thirteen Jesuit fathers on board five armed ships. This work provides invaluable information on the mores, customs, politics and natural history of the kingdom of Siam. (Boucher de La Richarderie, V, 99; Cordier, BI, 953; De Backer-Sommervogel VII, 1802; Chadenat, n°187).