"THE FINEST WORK ON SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY THAILAND"
LOUBERE, SIMON DE LA.
Description du royaume de Siam (...) envoye extraordinaire du roy auprès du roy de Siam en 1687. et 1688. 2 vols.
Amsterdam, Theodore Boom, 1700
8vo. Uniformly bound in two contemporary full vellum bindings with title and tome number in contemporary hand. Small paper-label pasted on to both spines. Light soiling to extremities. Red underligning to title-page in vol. 1. Small worm-tracts affecting lower part of first few leaves in vol. 2. Internally generally nice and clean. (8), 436, (2) pp. + 4 maps and 21 plates.; (4), 324, (1) pp. + 15 plates - A total of 40 plates, complete. Engraved headpiece and several woodcut illustrations in text.
Second Amsterdam-edition, the first being from 1691, the same year as the original Paris-edition. A Third Amsterdam-edition was published in 1713. According to Graesse the only difeerence between the various Amsterdam editions are a frontispiece in the 1691-edition. "Universally regarded as the finest work on seventeenth-century Thailand" (Wyatt, from the introduction to the English translation) The present work contain Simon de la Loubère account of his famous embassy to Siam in 1687 - the "La Loubère-Céberet mission - The embassy, containing five warships, arrived in Bangkok in October 1687 and was received by Ok-khun Chamnan. La Loubère returned to France on board the Gaillard on 3 January 1688, accompanied by the Jesuit Guy Tachard, and a Siamese embassy led by Ok-khun Chamnan. Upon his return, La Loubère wrote this present description of his travels, as had been requested by Louis XIV During his mission he also obtained a manuscript concerning Siamese astronomical traditions. This obscure document caught the attention of the French-Italian astronomer, Jean Dominique Cassini, to whom de la Loubère passed it. Cassini dedicated several years deciphering its cryptic contents, eventually determining its origin in India. The manuscript, now known as the Siamese Manuscript, sparked Cassini's interest to the extent that he meticulously decoded it. Graesse IV, 81.
It provided Europeans with one of the most comprehensive and detailed accounts of Siam at that time. His observations on Siamese culture and society greatly contributed to European understanding of Southeast Asia during the 17th century.
His efforts culminated in an explanation published in this present work. This exposition marked a crucial milestone in European scholarship which laid the first foundation of European scholarship on Indian astronomy.
(Brunet III, 778 – the 1691-edition)
Order-nr.: 61035
DKK 20.000,00