Rouen, Antoine Ferrand, 1665.
8vo [163 x 104 mm] of (8) pp., 442, (12), and 9 hand-coloured figures.
Bound in full fawn calf, gilt fillet on the covers, later ribbed spine, blue mottled edges. 18th century English binding.
Rare edition from Rouen “of an uncommon book. Areas of America visited by the author are Guiana and the province of Gomana” (Leclerc. Bibliotheca Americana, n°1531 et 1532).
Sabin, 49790; Cordier, Sinica, 2079 ; Brunet, III, 1782. Unkown to Chadenat.
The first edition was published in 1616.
”It includes the voyage of the author in Guiana and the province of Gomana” (Sabin).
“About China and the Chinese see pp. 339-347” (Cordier).
Jean Mocquet was born in the Dauphiné region in 1575.
“When Henry the Fourth came to the throne, Mocquet, whose parents had suffered a lot for this prince’s cause, became apothecary at court. The desire to travel led him to ask for the permission to go into foreign countries; having obtained it, he was made responsible for collecting rarities for the king’s cabinet. He left on October 1st, 1601, and until July 1612, went on five journeys: the first one to the west coast of Africa, the second one to Guiana and Gomana, the third one to Morocco, the fourth to Goa, the fifth to the Holy Land. Every time he came back, he put into the king’s cabinet, in the Tuileries Garden, the singular objects he had brought back. “The king, he said, was enjoying the speeches I gave him about my trips.” He was appointed guard of the cabinet of singularities, with wages of six hundred francs. His relation is entitled ‘Voyages en Afrique, Asie, Indes orientales et occidentales, divisés en six livres et enrichis de figures’. There is a Dutch translation, Dordrecht, 1656, 4to, and a German one, 1668, 4to. Mocquet is a respectable traveler, he gives curious details about the savages and southern America’s natural history. He tells, among others, a story that looks a lot like the one of Ynkle and Yariko. His notice about Morocco was abridged by Dapper. He makes a repulsive yet unfortunately true picture of the Portuguese’ depravation in the Indies, and gives interesting details about their trade. He met in Goa the traveler Pyrard, who told him many particularities about the Maldives. When Mocquet came back from Palestine, the king had placed in his garden in the Louvre the plants he had collected in Mount Lebanon.”
This volume encloses Mocquet’s Travels to Libya, Barbary and the Canaries (in 1601-1602); to the West Indies, the Amazon, etc. (in 1604): to Morocco (in 1605-1606); to Ethiopia, Mozambique, Goa, etc. (in 1607-1610); to Syria and the Holy Land (in 1611-1612); and to Spain (in 1614-1615).
“The purpose of his travels was to collect rarities for the King’s cabinet, of which he was later appointed guard”.
Besides its content, the work is also sought-after for its illustrations, consisting of 17 scenes engraved on 9 full-page copper plates picturing Libyan women that go topless along the sea to look for fishes and Ostriches’ eggs to eat, the Indians’ canoes or hammocks, How the Caribbean people smoke & eat the flesh of their enemies, How the Indians & Canaries people from Goa are dressed & go pick Coconuts on the palm trees or also The habits of Chinese people in terms of clothes, food and festivities and The Way Syrian people dance going on a Pilgrimage to Solomon’s Temple, & act like they resurrected dead people, between two figurines & Marabous.
This work is rarely found complete with all of its plates (the 2 out of pagination engravings of pp. 160-161 and 212-213 are often missing).
An exceptional copy with all the engravings enhanced by hand at the time with nice colours. This relation in original hand- colouring is of the utmost rarity.
We haven’t found any copy of this relation with the plates hand-coloured at the time.
