THE SIX VOYAGES OF JOHN BAPTISTA TAVERNIER...THROUGH TURKY [sic] INTO PERSIA, AND THE EAST-INDIES, FINISHED IN THE YEAR 1670...TOGETHER WITH A NEW RELATION OF THE PRESENT GRAND SEIGNOR'S SERAGLIO...TO WHICH IS ADDED A DESCRIPTION OF ALL THE KINGDOMS WHICH
Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste:
Price: 12500.00 USD
London. 1678-1680., Two volumes bound in one. First title in four parts: [2],2,[18],264; [2],214; [6],97; [8],107-19,[3]pp. including publisher's advertisements, plus twenty four engraved plates (one folding) and text illustrations. Second title in two parts: [20],66,[2]; 14,[4],15-46,[4],47-87,[1]pp. including bookseller's advertisement, plus two maps on one folding leaf and eight engraved plates (six folding). Folio. 20th-century three quarter pebbled cloth over marbled boards, spine gilt. Ownership inscription on front fly leaf: "Thomas A. Wise 1852." First title: Contemporary manuscript annotations in margin of p.143 of second part. One plate with contemporary manuscript annotations crossed out. Second title: Clean tears in folding leaf with two maps expertly repaired (no loss). Three plates with contemporary manuscript annotation in upper margin crossed out; one plate torn at bottom (no loss of image, but caption text removed); one plate with contemporary manuscript annotation in upper margin crossed out and torn at bottom, affecting most of caption text; one plate with contemporary manuscript annotation. Very light age-toning, particularly at outer edges, occasional minor foxing and soiling. A very good copy. In a cloth clamshell box, leather label. A fine gathering in a single volume of the early English translations of Tavernier's renowned and informative accounts of his travels in Asia. Lach refers to the author as "one of the most celebrated travelers of the seventeenth century and one of its greatest authorities on the routes of Eastern travel and on the diamond mines of India." The son of a Parisian geographer, Tavernier completed six overland journeys to Turkey, Persia, and India between 1631 and 1668. "In 1676-77 at Paris, Tavernier published in two volumes LES SIX VOYAGES, one of the most popular books of the seventeenth century. The first volume is centered on Turkey and Persia; the second on India, Ceylon, and the East Indies. By 1712 this work was reprinted at least six times in French, three times in English, and one time each in German, Dutch, and Italian" - Lach. THE SIX VOYAGES... records Tavernier's extensive travels through India, Ceylon, Indonesia, and Persia. Lach writes that the VOYAGES, "are rich in materials on routes, traveling conditions, trading practices, the mines of Golconda [in India], and the Dutch and English activities in the East. While Tavernier's contemporaries debated the authenticity of the VOYAGES, modern scholars agree that they constitute a valuable source for Indian history during the years from 1640 to 1667, or for almost a generation." The twenty-four plates include numerous engravings of coins and gems, reflecting the author's commercial activities, as well as images of town plans and scenes of local color. Two of the finely engraved plates provide examples of Arabic script. The second work, A COLLECTION OF SEVERAL RELATIONS & TREATISES SINGULAR AND CURIOUS, is the English translation of Tavernier's 1679 supplement to the original account of his six voyages. Composed of five separate parts based on the author's own observations and reports from other travellers, these accounts include descriptions of Japan (and Christian persecution there); French negotiations in Persia and India following the establishment of Colbert's East India Company; the kingdom of Tongking (now the northern part of Vietnam); the author's own observations on commerce in the East Indies; and Tavernier's highly critical remarks on "how the Hollanders manage their affairs in Asia." The two maps (on one folding leaf) are of Tonking and Japan; all eight plates show scenes of Tongking, including two related to funerary customs, one of pagodas, and one with fine detail of the costumes of the court. A fine set of the early English translations of Tavernier's celebrated and authoritative account of the East Indies. COX pp.275-76. Lach, ASIA IN THE MAKING OF EUROPE III, Book 1, pp.416-18. WING T256 (SIX VOYAGES); T250 (COLLECTION)..
