KOTZEBUË, Maurice. - Lot 222

KOTZEBUË, Maurice. Voyage en Perse, à la suite de l'Ambassade russe, en 1817. Translated from the German by M. Breton. Paris, A. Nepveu, 1819. In-8. (3)-285-(1) pp. fine margins, 4 plates including frontispiece. Contemporary fawn basane, spine ribbed and decorated, title gilt (but scratched), caissons decorated with gilt fillet and cold iron, untrimmed (one rib missing, rubbing and minor spotting, headpieces missing, slight soiling to title but interior still fresh). First edition of the French translation, published the same year as the first German and English editions, translated from the German by Breton de La Martinière. This diplomatic work was written by Moritz von Kotzebue or Kotzebuë (1789-1861), son of the famous German author and pamphleteer, then an officer in the Russian army who had access to diplomatic notes to write his book. His account of what he witnessed is invaluable for our knowledge of Persia in the early 19th century, a country that was less well known and considerably more closed than its Ottoman neighbor. It is illustrated with 4 plates (including a frontispiece) etched in black and colored, each with two figures (views, archi motifs, profiles of famous diamonds, military costumes...). Chadenat, 3263. [Perse].