Large 4to. [24.5 x 18.5], (1) f. engraved frontispiece dated 1705, (6) ff. including title-page, 210 pp. including separate half-title for the appendix on China, and with 1 large folding map and 30 plates (22 single-page, 8 double-page). Bound in contemporary paneled calf, rebacked. Occasional light toning, and some reinforcements on map, but generally a fresh, broad-margined copy.

First English-language edition of this illustrated eyewitness account of a voyage from Moscow to Beijing from 1692-95 by Evert Ides, the Dutch-born Ambassador of Czar Peter the Great to China. Ides’ account is a seminal document of early Russo-Chinese relations: the voyage was directly motivated by the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk, the first treaty between Russia and China, which established a firm border at the Argun River and opened official trade relations between the two countries. In addition to its 30 plates, the work contains a large folding engraved map of the entire Eurasian landmass from Moscow east to Japan and Korea, and from Siberia south to India and southeast Asia.

Ides’ eyewitness narrative begins with the departure of his embassy’s 400-man caravan from Moscow in the spring of 1692, and follows their progress across the Ural mountains, along the Irtysh and Ob rivers, and further east to Lake Baikal before continuing on to Beijing. Yet the bulk of the volume is given over to descriptions of China, which culminate in Ides’ account of his audience before the Manchu Kangxi Emperor (r. 1654-1722). Ides recounts in detail a number of sumptuous Chinese interiors, featuring chairs hung with tiger and leopard skins, carved marble tables, gold and silver goblets, and fine silk carpets used in lieu of tablecloths. Ides also conveys a sense of the lively entertainments he witnesses—both in the imperial court and during the three-week winter festival that overtakes the city streets—which include a variety of animal tricks, instrumental concerts, singing, dancing, and the performance of several traditional plays. The exterior of the imperial palace is also described, with Ides showing particular admiration for its tilework and carvings.

This first part of Ides’ account contains numerous observations on the geography and peoples of the Great Steppe—including remarks on the trade of fossil ivory from frozen mammoths—and includes 18 of the volume’s 30 engravings, which chiefly depict the inhabitants of Tatar settlements encountered during the journey. The narrative is followed by a nearly 100-page description of China’s history, geography, social structure and religions, by a certain ‘Dionysius Kao,’ a Christian convert.

The volume was first published in Dutch in 1704 (Amsterdam, François Halma); the present volume was the first translation to follow the original.

* OCLC record; ESTC T55175.

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