29 - BEAUVOIR, Count of. Voyage Around the World. Australia, Java, Siam, Canton, Beijing, Yeddo, San Francisco.

BEAUVOIR, Count of. Voyage Around the World. Australia, Java, Siam, Canton, Beijing, Yeddo, San Francisco. Paris, Henri Plon, 1873. Large 8vo (27 x 19 cm), contemporary half-shagreen binding, decorated spine. 641 pp. Some scuffs on the covers, paper slightly sun-faded, rare foxing. First edition in large 8vo format (the publisher states that this work was published in 1872 and that this is the first edition in 8vo format and the seventh edition of the work). Contains numerous black-and-white engravings within the text and as inserts (drawings by L. Breton, Adrien Marie, and Gauthier Saint-Elme) as well as 6 color plates (6 maps, 3 of which are filled in). The engravings—urban and rural landscapes, ordinary and powerful figures, scenes from daily life, and rare events—are of great documentary interest. On April 9, 1866, having departed from London, Count Ludovic de Beauvoir (1846–1929) and his childhood friend, the Duke of Penthièvre, set out on a voyage around the world. They explored Australia, Java, Siam, Canton, Beijing, Yeddo (Tokyo), and San Francisco. Upon their return in 1867, Ludovic de Beauvoir published the first two volumes of his travelogue: *Australia and Java, Siam, Canton*; it was a huge success. In it, he recounts their arrival in Melbourne and their travels through Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales. Ludovic de Beauvoir provides details about the gold mines in Victoria, particularly around Ballarat and Bendigo. The section devoted to Southeast Asia describes life in Java, the grand crocodile and rhinoceros hunts, and the unparalleled luxury of life at the court of the Javanese princes. In Siam, the Count de Beauvoir witnessed strange ceremonies, notably the king’s cremation rites. After a brief stay in Hong Kong, he traveled to Macau, a veritable port for the shipment of slaves to the New World, which aroused in him both indignation and compassion. In 1870–71, Beauvoir fought in the Franco-Prussian War, after which he was awarded the Legion of Honor. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1872, he published the third volume of *Voyage autour du monde*: *Pékin, Yeddo, San Francisco*. From Beijing to the Great Wall and to the Land of the Rising Sun, Ludovic de Beauvoir offers a wealth of unusual details about these two countries in the Far East. This was followed by the crossing of the Pacific and the arrival in the New World. It was not until after 1872 that the three parts were combined into a single volume. An important work for understanding the Asian world (particularly China, Japan, and Korea) at a time when, willingly or by force, the peoples of these previously isolated countries were beginning to open up to the West.