Leiden, Jan de Meurs, 1665.
2 parts in 1 folio volume [390 x 232 mm] of (9) prelim. ll. including the title and the frontispiece, the engraved portrait and the dedication, 290 pages, 1 fold. map, 31 plates on double-page, margins shorter on 1 plate; 1 l. of title, 134 pp., 1 l. of advertisement, 3 plates on double-page. 114 engravings in total. Tiny restoration in the margin of the frontispiece, small burn on pl. p. 118. Stiff vellum, sprinkled edges, flat spine. Contemporary binding.
First French edition of Pierre de Goyer and Jacob de Keyser’s travel, sent by the Council of the Indies to China.
It was published the same year and by the same editor as the Dutch edition.
Chadenat, I, 140; Tiele, p. 179, Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 2341.
In 1655 the general government appointed Nieuhoff intendant of the embassy sent to China with Goyer and led by Keyser. The ambassadors landed in Guangzhou on July 29th 1655 and stayed until March 17th 1656. They went through Nanjing and had to triumph over the Jesuits hostilities in order to get admitted on October 1st 1656 in front of the emperor of China. Back in Guangzhou, Nieuhoff embarked for Europe on March 31st 1657.
Dedicated to Colbert and illustrated with a large portrait of the minister, the work is renowned and sought-after for its very rich iconography of China known at the time.
Besides an engraved frontispiece and a large folding map of China, 114 fine engravings including 34 on double-page represent the landscapes, towns and ports views, costumes, fauna and flora of the lands visited by the author.
The printing of the engravings, very inked, is superb.
Very attractive wide-margined copy preserved in its contemporary vellum binding.
It bears an armorial ex-libris from the 18th century and comes from Johan August Gylling’s collection, 1869 with manuscript ex-libris and H. P. Kraus’s book collection, with his label.
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