OTTER, Jean. - Lot 169

OTTER, Jean. Voyage en Turquie et en Perse avec une relation des expéditions de Tahmas Kouli-Khan. A Paris, chez les Frères Guérin, 1748. 2 vol. in-12, 6) ff. 415 pp. with folding map and (1) f. 386 pp. Contemporary speckled fawn basane, ribbed spine with red title-piece, richly decorated caissons with gilt fleurons and fillets, brown fillet on covers and gilt on edges, red edges (rubbing, corners dulled, jaws of vol. II split with missing caps, bottom cover of vol. 1 damaged). Relation of orientalist Jean Otter's voyage to Turkey and Persia, undertaken as part of a mission to re-establish trade relations with Persia. The author gives a detailed account of his itinerary, the obstacles encountered, and the political context marked by conflicts between Ottomans and Persians under the reign of Tahmasp Kouli-Khan. The book also offers a valuable description of Mesopotamia, little known to Europeans at the time. Illustrated with a folding map of Otter's voyage drawn and engraved by d'Anville. Born in Kristianstad in 1707, Jean Otter studied oriental languages (Arabic, Turkish and Persian) before spending time in Basra (1742-1743) in the service of the French consul. On his return to Paris, he became a translator at the Bibliothèque du Roi, then professor of Arabic at the Collège Royal from 1746. He was admitted to the Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1748. Provenance: Library of François-César Le Tellier, Marquis de Courtanvaux, with his ex libris seal of arms on the title page.