LATE 17TH CENTURY TRAVEL ACCOUNT TO BAGHDAD

SANSON, MR. (NICOLAS).

Voyage ou relation de l'état présent du royaume de Perse.

Paris, Cramoisy, 1695.

8vo. In contemporary vellum with yapp edges and title in contemporary hand to spine. Small paper-label to upper part on spine indicating the inventory number in an estate library. Small worm-tract in lower margin of pp. 93-264, slightly touching text on a few leaves. Worm-tract on front free end-paper and frontispiece, otherwise internally fine and clean. (10), 264, (24) pp. + frontispiece, 1 folded map and 5 plates. 

Second edition of French missionary Sanson travel-account of his nearly 10-year stay at the Safavid court in Baghdad in 1683 to assist Bishop Piquet. After Piquet's death in 1685, Sanson remained to negotiate at the court until 1692, when the Shah issued a proclamation authorizing Catholic missions in New Julfa and Hamadan. Sanson returned to France to present the shah's proclamation to Louis XIV at Versailles in 1693. This book is the account of his nearly ten-year stay in Persia during the final years of Safavid rule.
The first edition was published 1694 but without the map and frontispiece.

Order-nr.: 60628