Rare first French edition of the work considered “the first to give anything approaching a correct and detailed account of China and the Far East” (PMM), and perhaps the most influential travel book of all time. This first appearance in French should possibly be linked to topical interest in the..... More about La Description Geographique des provinces & villes plus fameuses de l’Inde Orientale

Very rare first edition of this account of the conversion of three Muslim kings to Christianity in the East Indies, and apparently representing a sort of semi-fictionalized popular digest based on three genuine Jesuit relations. The present work is notable for its account of early activities on Salsette Island, the... More about Nouveaux Advertissemens trescertains, venus du paÿs des Indes Meridionales: Contenans la...

Rare first French edition – here in a magnificent, contemporary Parisian binding – of the Spanish Augustinian Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza’s (1545-1618) groundbreaking treatise on China, a work considered “the most comprehensive and popular book on Ming China to appear in Europe” (Lach, I.ii, p. 330). Though substantially based on..... More about Histoire du grand royaume de la Chine

First edition of a rare and enigmatic text with its origins in a Persian-language travel diary of Uruch Beg Bayat (1560-1605), a nobleman and secretary in the delegation sent to Europe in 1599 by the Safavid ruler Shah ‘Abbas I at the urging of Sir Anthony Sherley (1565-1635), whose own... More about Relaciones de Don Juan de Persia

Scarce first edition and an attractive copy, bound in what must be a presentation binding with the image of Saint Benedict stamped on the front cover and the arms of the author stamped on the back cover. The work is one of the more fanciful illustrated chronicles devoted to the... More about Nova Typis Transacta Navigatio. Novi Orbis Indiae Occidentalis…authore Honorio Philopono

First French edition of this first-hand account of 17th-century Vietnam (first Italian ed. 1650), which played an important role in fostering French interest in the region. Rhodes, who earned the favorable opinion of Louis XIV, is often heralded as the founder of Vietnamese Christianity, and remembered for his important dictionary... More about Relation des progrez de la foy au royaume de la cochinchine vers les derniers quartiers du levant

Stunning copy of this "important and influential history of the Ottoman Empire, based on an important collection of source material, which includes Leonard of Chios letter on the fall of Constantinople, Spandugino's account of Ottoman life and manners, and the accounts of Giovio, Menavino, Barletius and others.- Atabey 1088 The... More about Historia Universale dell'Origine Guerre, et Imperio de Turchi con le vite de tutti gl'imperatori...

The very rare third, enlarged, and best edition of Bartoli's L'Asia descritta. This work was intended to cover the Jesuit experience in the Far East, including Japan and China since the Order's first arrival there in the mid-sixteenth century. The volume on China appeared just before Kircher's China illustrata, and... More about Dell Istoria della Compagnia di Giesu. L'Asia descritta dal P. Daniello Bartoli della medesima...

Extremely rare first and only edition of this detailed popular newsletter concerning the contemporary reception of three Siamese ambassadors in Paris in September of 1686. The report gives a full description of their entrance, their itinerary, and the names and qualities of the individual ambassadors – whose 9-month stay in... More about Relation de ce qui s'est passé a l'audience des Mandarins

Unpublished autograph manuscript by the French nobleman and traveller Louis de Chancel de Lagrange (1678-1747) documenting his extraordinary world travels between 1692 and 1704. Lagrange provides an eyewitness account of the groundbreaking 1698-1700 trading expedition to Canton made by the frigate L’Amphitrite, considered the “the first voyage of the French..... More about Le premier volume des voyages curieux faits dans diverses provinces, de France, dEspagne, de...

First edition of one of the first French works on commerce in Russia, including a noteworthy early map of Alaska. “Extremely detailed and worth studying” (Lada-Mocarski). Describing Russia’s contemporary situation, government, and both domestic and international trade, the book includes tables of all exports—from caviar to gingerbread—and “comptes simulés”—sample receipts..... More about Essai sur le Commerce de Russie. Avec L’Histoire de ses Découvertes