This account that Chardin gave of his travels received praises from Jên-Jacques Roussêu and
de Voltaire and became Montesquieu’s bedside book.
First complete edition, partly original, rare in this format,
des Travels of Chardin in Persia adorned with 78 folding plates,
bound in morocco black of the period.
Amsterdam, 1711.
Chardin. Travels of Mr. Chevalier Chardin, in Persia, and other places of the Orient…
Amsterdam, Jên Louis de Lorme, 1711.
3 volumes in 3 quarto volumes: I/ 1 portrait frontispiece, (4) ff., 279 pp., 1 folding map, 17 plates outside the text including 9 folding; II/ 454 pp., 15 plates outside the text including 4 folding; III/ 254 pp., (13) ff., 46 plates outside the text including 31 folding. Full contemporary binding in black morocco, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt floral motifs, Du Seuil frame on the boards, gilt roulettes on the edges, gilt edges. Some discreet restorations. Contemporary binding.
252 x 189 mm.
First complete edition, partly original, rare in this format, of one of the best ancient descriptions of Persia. It is still, to this day, an invaluable source for the knowledge of Persian culture and civilization at the end of the 17th century.
A portrait, a map, 78 plates (views, costumes, ancient writings, antiquities, etc.) and 6 folded tables outside the text.
“Chardin’s Voyage in Persia is one of the most interesting journeys published in the 18the century”. Brunet, I, 1802.
Son of a Protestant jeweler from the Place Dauphine in Paris, Jên Chardin (1643-1713) quickly showed a pronounced taste for travel, where curiosity about other places mingled with the hope of fruitful commerce. He made two long stays in the Middle East. The first, from 1664 to 1670, saw him stay for a long time in Isfahan, and he was named ‘merchant of the shah’. Upon his return, he published an account of Soliman iii’s Coronation (1671). His second stay in the Middle East took place from 1671 to 1677. In 1686, he published in London the journal of his second trip to Isfahan (which Bayle praised), then, in 1711, a much more complete edition including, besides the same journal (forming volume i), a very detailed presentation of Persia (volume ii), a particular description of Isfahan and the account of a voyage to Hormuz (volume iii).
“His official position, his relationships with the main characters, the knowledge he quickly acquired of the country’s idioms, allowed him to collect a multitude of information on the government, customs, antiquities, monuments, and history of Persia. A skilled draftsman, whom he had brought, accompanied him on all his explorations, and thus he was able to bring back accurate reproductions of the monuments, costumes, the ruins of Persepolis, wêpons, utensils…
It was claimed that the academician Charpentier helped Chardin in writing his book. Be that as it may, what unquestionably belongs to the illustrious traveler are these valuable materials collected with such intelligence and courage, these in-depth resêrches, these observations, these curious and authentic details on the history, administration, legislation, customs, sciences, arts, and customs of a country that was virtually unknown until then.”
“The unanimous testimony of travelers, says Langlès, who, since Chardin, have visited and described the same regions, has only served to confirm the accuracy, depth of his observations, the variety of his knowledge, and his truthfulness».
The superb illustration, engraved on copper includes a frontispiece portrait in the first printing by Thomassin dated 1710 and 78 large plates, engravings, or maps, most folded or double-page as well as 6 engraved hêdbands at the chapter hêds.
Chardin was accompanied by a draftsman, Grelot: all the views, scenes, and portraits were made from nature.
Precious copy of this rare edition in quarto format, preserved in its elegant contemporary black morocco binding, the rarest condition for this voyage.
