Description
Asia - DU HALDE (Jean-Baptiste). Geographical, historical, chronological, political, and physical description of the Empire of China and Chinese Tartary. Paris, P. G. Le Mercier, 1735. 4 volumes in-folio; marbled calf, spine richly decorated with gilt patterns, title and tomes in red and brown morocco, red edges (period binding). Handwritten ex-libris Potocka on the false titles and printed : "Biblioteca do Dr Ricardo Espirito Santo". Volume I: (2) ff, LII, IV, VIII, 590 pp. (misquoted 592), 18 maps and 7 plates ; vol. II : (2) ff., IV, 725, (1) pp. 7 (of 10) plates ; vol. III : (2) ff. IV, 564, (3) pp. 5 plates ; vol. IV : (2) ff. 6 vignettes, 19 plates (of 22, lacking three plates in vol. II) and 43 maps and plans. Beginning of a split at the bottom of the upper spine of volume I, small leather tears in places. A very nice copy, elegantly bound. First edition of the most interesting book on China of the 18th century. Jean-Baptiste Du Halde (1674-1743), French historian and Jesuit, was also confessor of Louis XIV and professor at the college of Paris. He succeeded Father Charles Le Gobien and for more than 30 years directed the publication of Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, a collection of 34 volumes of letters from missionaries of the Society of Jesus in China. It was from these accounts that he compiled his Description, which was one of the first works to give an accurate picture of China and had a strong influence on the debate of ideas in the 18th century. Known mainly for his Description géographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l'Empire De La Chine et de la Tartarie chinoise, Voltaire said of him: "Although he did not come out of Paris, and did not know Chinese, he gave, on the basis of the Memoirs of his colleagues, the largest and best description of the Empire of China in the world" (Voltaire - Le Siècle de Louis XIV) An "encyclopaedic" source (civilisation, geography, agriculture, crafts, religion, trade, science...), it contains the first map of Korea (by J.B. Régis) as well as the first description of Alaska through the report of Bering's voyage. The copy bears on the first counterfolds of the volumes the large armorial bookplate of the wife of Count Heinrich von Brühl (1700-1763), prime minister and favourite of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. He owned a library of 62,000 volumes which he left to his city of Dresden, as well as a collection of 600 paintings which Catherine II bought for the Hermitage Palace on her death. The provenance is confirmed by the handwritten note on the four title leaves: "I belong to the Countess of Brühl".
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Asia - DU HALDE (Jean-Baptiste). Geographical, historical, chronological, political, and physical description of the Empire of China and Chinese Tartary. Paris, P. G. Le Mercier, 1735. 4 volumes in-folio; marbled calf, spine richly decorated with gilt patterns, title and tomes in red and brown morocco, red edges (period binding). Handwritten ex-libris Potocka on the false titles and printed : "Biblioteca do Dr Ricardo Espirito Santo". Volume I: (2) ff, LII, IV, VIII, 590 pp. (misquoted 592), 18 maps and 7 plates ; vol. II : (2) ff., IV, 725, (1) pp. 7 (of 10) plates ; vol. III : (2) ff. IV, 564, (3) pp. 5 plates ; vol. IV : (2) ff. 6 vignettes, 19 plates (of 22, lacking three plates in vol. II) and 43 maps and plans. Beginning of a split at the bottom of the upper spine of volume I, small leather tears in places. A very nice copy, elegantly bound. First edition of the most interesting book on China of the 18th century. Jean-Baptiste Du Halde (1674-1743), French historian and Jesuit, was also confessor of Louis XIV and professor at the college of Paris. He succeeded Father Charles Le Gobien and for more than 30 years directed the publication of Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, a collection of 34 volumes of letters from missionaries of the Society of Jesus in China. It was from these accounts that he compiled his Description, which was one of the first works to give an accurate picture of China and had a strong influence on the debate of ideas in the 18th century. Known mainly for his Description géographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l'Empire De La Chine et de la Tartarie chinoise, Voltaire said of him: "Although he did not come out of Paris, and did not know Chinese, he gave, on the basis of the Memoirs of his colleagues, the largest and best description of the Empire of China in the world" (Voltaire - Le Siècle de Louis XIV) An "encyclopaedic" source (civilisation, geography, agriculture, crafts, religion, trade, science...), it contains the first map of Korea (by J.B. Régis) as well as the first description of Alaska through the report of Bering's voyage. The copy bears on the first counterfolds of the volumes the large armorial bookplate of the wife of Count Heinrich von Brühl (1700-1763), prime minister and favourite of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. He owned a library of 62,000 volumes which he left to his city of Dresden, as well as a collection of 600 paintings which Catherine II bought for the Hermitage Palace on her death. The provenance is confirmed by the handwritten note on the four title leaves: "I belong to the Countess of Brühl".
