TRAVELLING AROUND CHINA 1655-57

NIEUHOF, JOAN. (JAN, JOHAN).

Het Gezantschap der Neêrlandtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, aan den Grooten Tartarischen Cham, Den tegenwoordigen Keizer van China: waar in de gedenkwaerdighste Geschiedenissen, die onder het reizen door de Sineesche Landtschappen, Quantung, Kiangsi, Nanking, Xantung en Peking, en aan het Keizerlijke Hof te peking, sedert den jare 1655 tot 1657. zijn voorgevallen, op het bondigste verhandelt worden. Beneffens een Neukeurige Beschryving der Sineesche Steden, Dorpen, regeering, Wetenschappen, Hantwerken, Zeden, Godsdiensten, Drachten, Schepen, Bergen, Gewassen, Dieren, &c... (2 parts).

Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1665.

Folio. Contemp. full mottled calf. Richly gilt spine. 6 raised bands. Gilt lineborders on covers. Cracking to leather on hinges, externally repaired with thin leather-strips. Corners reinforced. Engraved title-page and printed (in red/black). (10),208,258,(10) pp., Engraved portrait, large folded engraved map, 2 engraved plates with coat of arms, 34 double-page engraved views, 110 large engraved textillustrations. A faint dampstain to upper margin of the last few leaves. The 2 plates with coat of arms a bit frayed in right margins and a faint dampstain in upper margin. A bit of browning to the first 5 leaves. otherwise internally clean.

First edition of Nieuhof's famous travel round China, a trip of 2,400 km from Canton to Peking, in 1655-1657, which enabled him to become an authoritative Western writer on China. He wrote this "An embassy from the East-India Company", the written account of this journey which he undertook for the Dutch-Indian Compagny. He deals with nearly all aspects of Chinese life, folklore, religion, crafts, topography, architecture, zoology, geography, geology etc. etc. The work is one of the first illustrated books to describe China, and it profoundly influenced the Western view on China.
Brunet IV, 77. - Cordier, 2344.

Order-nr.: 50802