TAVERNIER (Jean-Baptiste). Les Six voyages [...] qu'il a fai - Lot 20

Lot n° 20
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TAVERNIER (Jean-Baptiste). Les Six voyages [...] qu'il a fai - Lot 20
TAVERNIER (Jean-Baptiste). Les Six voyages [...] qu'il a fait en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes. ÀParis, chez Gervais Clouzier et Claude Barbin, 1677. 2 vols in-4, 30-700 [ciphered 1à288, 287à698]-(6dontont les 3eet 4eblanches)+ 8-40-525-(5dont la 3eblanche)pp. -From the same: Suite des voyages [...] ou Nouveau recueil de plusieurs relations et traitez singuliers et curieux. Ibid. 1679. In-4, (8of which the 2ndand 4thblanches)-72-(2of which the 2ndblanche)-156-(4of which the 2ndblanche)-104[i.e. 22pp. numbered 1to22, 2pp. not numbered, 10pp. numbered 23to32, 2pp. not numbered, 48pp. numbered 33to 80, 4pp. not numbered, 16pp. numbered 81to96]-(8of which the 2ndblanche)-178pp. All bound in stiff vellum with short covers, smooth spines with title in ink, brown leather title-pieces and tomaison added in the eighteenth century; a few stains on the boards, pale angular spotting in vol.II, worm work in the margins of some twenty leaves and one plate of vol.I, this plate with tear at a fold, glued lower flyleaf of vol.III missing, 2 large tears without missing a f. of the last part of vol.III (late 17th-century binding). Second edition of the Six voyages, published the year after the original. There are copies of the Suite existent with a different title leaf, Recueil de plusieurs relations et traitez singuliers et curieux [...] qui n'ont pas été mis dans ses six premiers voyages, with the same date but in the name of Gervais Clouzier alone. Either the copies of the original edition were shared, or there were two different issues or editions in the same year. The suite comprises the following parts: "Une relation du Japon, de la cause de la persecution des chrestiens dans les isles", "Relation de ce qui s'est passé dans la negociation des deputez qui ont esté en Perse aux Indes, tant de la part du roy que de la compagnie française, pour l'établissement du commerce" (mission des Français Lalin, LaBoullaye, LeGouz and Beber to Ispahan and India in 1665-1666), "Observations sur le commerce des Indes orientales, sur les fraudes qui s'y peuvent commettre", "Relation nouvelle singuliere du royaume de Tunquin", "Histoire de la conduite des Hollandois en Asie". Collations vary. Extensive illustrations, including 48 copper-engraved compositions, 45 out of text (including 9 folding and 6 double, mounted on tabs) and 3 vignettes in text; 6 wood-engraved vignettes in text. Features include a portrait, plans and maps (including one of Japan), views, scenes, coins and precious stones. One of the finest connoisseurs of the Orient in the Grand Siècle, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) was the son of a Protestant map engraver. Initially trained as a bookseller, he began traveling in 1623, first in Europe, then in the Orient, until 1668. Seeking to develop his own trade outside the sea routes controlled by the big companies, from 1642 he specialized in the import of pearls and gems (notably Indian diamonds), and in the export of European luxury goods. He lived in Constantinople, Isfahan, Baghdad, India (where he frequented the court of the Great Mughal) and Java. Ennobled by LouisXIV in 1669, he settled the following year in Eaubonne, in the Swiss canton of Vaud, but left again in 1689, at a very old age, and moved on to Russia, where he has since been lost. The six voyages are a perfect example of the travellers' accounts that flourished in the second half of the 17th century: Jean-Baptiste Tavernier gives a faithful account of his commercial and diplomatic practices, but also and above all of the peoples he visited in the East, providing ethnographic data collected at first hand and still invaluable today. Provenance of the first 2 volumes: "B[aron] D. de Wassenaer-Wouw" (handwritten bookplate on the titles).
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