Details
TACHARD, Gui (1651-1712). Voyage de Siam, des Peres Jesuites, envoyez par le Roy aux Indes & à la Chine. Paris: Arnould Seneuze & Daniel Horthemels, 1686.
4° (238 x 181 mm). Engraved title-vignette, head- and tail-pieces; 20 engraved plates (10 double-page) engraved by C. Vermeulen after P. Sevin. Contemporary French calf, spine gilt in compartments (hinges tightened, some minor wear). Provenance: faint owner’s stamp on title-page.
FIRST EDITION. “’A large part of the work relates to the kindly reception given to the Jesuit fathers by the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope; Java, Sumatra and Bantam were also visited and described.’ Pinkerton, who in common with most of the editors of English collections, had a keen eye for Jesuit failings, describes the account as a pretty accurate work as to geography, but disfigured with the author’s credulity” (Cox, with quotation from Maggs). de Backer VII:1802; Brunet V, 632; Chadenat 187; Cioranescu XVII:63975; Cox I, 328.
[With:]
TACHARD, Gui. Second Voyage du Pere Tachard et des jesuites, envoyez par le Roy, au Royaume de Siam. Paris: Chez Daniel Horthemels, 1689.
4° (242 x 177 mm). 6 folding engraved plates (one with short closed tear). Contemporary French mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments (hinges tightened). (Title bound askew, some lower fore-corners dampstained.) Provenance: early owner’s signature on front free endpaper.
Two editions (both in 12mo format) were also published in the same year in Amsterdam and Middelbourg. de Backer VII:1803; Chadenat 187; Cioranescu XVII:63977; Cox I, p. 328 (treated as second part of the Voyage); Weber 430.
[With:]
[CHOISY, L'Abbé de (1644-1724)]. Journal du Voyage de Siam fait en M.DC.LXXXV. et M.DC.LXXXVI. Paris: Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy, 1687.
8° (243 x 182 mm). Title with woodcut vignette. (Some occasional browning and spotting.) Contemporary calf, sides with the gilt arms of Armand-Jean de Vignerot du Plessis, spine in six compartments, gilt-lettered red morocco lettering-piece in one, a gilt-decorated panel in the rest (a little wear to joints and spine ends). Provenance: Armand-Jean de Vignerot du Plessis (arms on sides).
FIRST EDITION of the journal of the Chaumont embassy (1685-1686) sent by Louis XIV to Siam. Choisy was a missionary sent to try to convert King Narai. This mission failed, but Choisy's book, compiled from the experiences of Abbé de Choisy, Father Guy Tachard and the Chevalier de Chaumont, was of great interest and was republished as recently as 1930.
Narai was king of Siam from 1656-88, and his credited with producing the first “golden age” of Thai literature. Encouraged by his foreign minister Constantine Phaulkon the famed Greek adventurer who became a prominent figure in Narai's courty Narai hoped to develop trade relations with the French in order to break the domination of the Dutch East India Company. Embassies were exchanged between Siam and France throughout his reign.
RARE: RLIN lists only two copies of this edition in the U.S., at Harvard and the University of Minnesota. Chadenat 2582 (“Relation très curieuse, devenue rare”); Cioranescu XVII, 19372; Cordier, Bibl. Indosinica, 941.
4° (238 x 181 mm). Engraved title-vignette, head- and tail-pieces; 20 engraved plates (10 double-page) engraved by C. Vermeulen after P. Sevin. Contemporary French calf, spine gilt in compartments (hinges tightened, some minor wear). Provenance: faint owner’s stamp on title-page.
FIRST EDITION. “’A large part of the work relates to the kindly reception given to the Jesuit fathers by the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope; Java, Sumatra and Bantam were also visited and described.’ Pinkerton, who in common with most of the editors of English collections, had a keen eye for Jesuit failings, describes the account as a pretty accurate work as to geography, but disfigured with the author’s credulity” (Cox, with quotation from Maggs). de Backer VII:1802; Brunet V, 632; Chadenat 187; Cioranescu XVII:63975; Cox I, 328.
[With:]
TACHARD, Gui. Second Voyage du Pere Tachard et des jesuites, envoyez par le Roy, au Royaume de Siam. Paris: Chez Daniel Horthemels, 1689.
4° (242 x 177 mm). 6 folding engraved plates (one with short closed tear). Contemporary French mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments (hinges tightened). (Title bound askew, some lower fore-corners dampstained.) Provenance: early owner’s signature on front free endpaper.
Two editions (both in 12mo format) were also published in the same year in Amsterdam and Middelbourg. de Backer VII:1803; Chadenat 187; Cioranescu XVII:63977; Cox I, p. 328 (treated as second part of the Voyage); Weber 430.
[With:]
[CHOISY, L'Abbé de (1644-1724)]. Journal du Voyage de Siam fait en M.DC.LXXXV. et M.DC.LXXXVI. Paris: Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy, 1687.
8° (243 x 182 mm). Title with woodcut vignette. (Some occasional browning and spotting.) Contemporary calf, sides with the gilt arms of Armand-Jean de Vignerot du Plessis, spine in six compartments, gilt-lettered red morocco lettering-piece in one, a gilt-decorated panel in the rest (a little wear to joints and spine ends). Provenance: Armand-Jean de Vignerot du Plessis (arms on sides).
FIRST EDITION of the journal of the Chaumont embassy (1685-1686) sent by Louis XIV to Siam. Choisy was a missionary sent to try to convert King Narai. This mission failed, but Choisy's book, compiled from the experiences of Abbé de Choisy, Father Guy Tachard and the Chevalier de Chaumont, was of great interest and was republished as recently as 1930.
Narai was king of Siam from 1656-88, and his credited with producing the first “golden age” of Thai literature. Encouraged by his foreign minister Constantine Phaulkon the famed Greek adventurer who became a prominent figure in Narai's courty Narai hoped to develop trade relations with the French in order to break the domination of the Dutch East India Company. Embassies were exchanged between Siam and France throughout his reign.
RARE: RLIN lists only two copies of this edition in the U.S., at Harvard and the University of Minnesota. Chadenat 2582 (“Relation très curieuse, devenue rare”); Cioranescu XVII, 19372; Cordier, Bibl. Indosinica, 941.