LA MOTTRAYE, Aubry de Voyages du Sieur A. de La Motraye, en Europe, Asie et Afrique. Où l’on trouve une grande variété de recherches géographiques, historiques et politiques, sur l’Italie, la Grèce, la Turquie, la Tartarie, Crimée, & Nogaye, la Circassie, la Suède, la Laponie, etc… avec des remarques instructives sur les mœurs, coutumes, opinions &c. des peuples & des païs où l’Auteur a voyagé […]

First French edition of Aubry de la Mottraye’s important travel through Europe, Asia and Africa. Chadenat 105 ; Blackmer 946.

Aubry de La Mottraye settled in Constantinople in 1698 to practise freely the Protestant religion. He had already visited Italia, Jaffa, Alexandria, Tripoli, Mahn Harbour, and Lisbon and had followed Tallard to England. He met Tekeli in Constantinople and travelled through Anatolia up to the Black Sea. He sailed to Malta and then towards Barcelona. La Mottraye stroke up a friendship with F.E. Fabrice, an agent of Charles XII towards 1711, and followed him to Bendery. Constant travels between Constantinople and Didymoteicho occupied him until 1714. He left for Sweden with Fabrice and went up to Laponia.

« In his travels, La Mottraye focuses on the habits and customs and reveals many peculiar anecdotes about characters whose names became famous in history. »

Bibliographers emphasize the beauty of the illustrations due to William Hogarth’s talent, one of the most famous English artists from the 18th century. The present work is illustrated in the first issue with 47 very fine engravings out of pagination drawn by William Hogarth, most of them being folding or double-page engravings, with 2 frontispieces and 4 maps. Drawn with talent and originality, they represent with elegance and movement customs scenes, characters, costumes, and monuments from the countries visited by La Mottraye. Hogarth shows here a very particular verve as « the first English painter to have an indisputable personality. »

« A peculiar work, sought-after for its 46 plates, almost all drawn by W. Hogarth, one of the most famous English artists from the 18th century. Besides it contains 4 maps. » (Chadenat)

An exceptional copy printed on large-paper, especially wide-margined (height: 368 mm). An ordinary copy is approximately 315 mm high, that is to say 53 mm shorter than this one.