Folio. 2 maps, 63 plates (ten of which are folding including a map), contains engraved portrait by Macret after Loggan, original carton boards, lightly stained and rubbed round edges, new leather spine, book plate G. Giraud verso front cover, copy in very good condition, Paris, de l'Imprimrie de Le Normant, 1811.

Synopsis

This work was described by William Jones, one of the greatest Orientalists of the eighteenth century, as the best account of the Muslim nations ever published. Chardin’s first voyage undertaken in 1655, he went as far as India but then returned to Persia where he stayed for six years travelling widely, mastering Turkish and Arabic besides Persian. In 1671 he again travelled to Persia by way of Smyrna, Istanbul, the Crimea and the Caucasus. He visited India a second time. This work has a profound influence on the philosophers and historians of his time.
Besides his own observations, Chardin, based his remarks on information furnished to him by Pere Rafael du Mans, the French Capuchin monk who lived in Isphahan for over 50 years (1644-1696) and was the most knowledgeable Westerner on Persia.
Bibliographical References: Ghani, p. 73; Chadenat, 4730; Coll. Diba, p. 273; Weber 379; Brunet I – 1802.