12mo. Volumes I-IV: Les Six Voyages De Monsieur Jean-Baptiste Tavernier Ecuyer Baron d'Aubonne, en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes.....[50], 501 pp., [3] / 465 pp., [3] / 402 pp., [5] / 367 pp., [5]. Volume V: Recueil de plusieurs relations et traitez singuliers et curieux de Mr Tavernier... qui n'ont point été mis dans ses six premiers voyages ...... [4], 467 pp., [4] / Volume VI: Nouvelle relation de l'intérieur du sérrail du grand Seigneur, contenant plusieurs singularitez qui jusqu'ici n'ont point été mises en lumière... 244 pp., [4], frontispiece portrait of Tavernier in Persian costume, 1 title frontispiece dated 1712 + 60 plates & maps (of which are 4 folding maps and 47 folding plates), contemporary full calf, title gilt on raised decorated spine & printed in red & black, previous owner’s name inscribed on title page, some plates have very small tear at right margin where the fold is but without any loss to contents, otherwise set in good condition, rubbed edges of 2 volumes, Chez Pierre Ribou, Paris, new revised edition, 1713.

Synopsis

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a 17 th-century French gem merchant and traveller.
“Tavernier, a private individual and merchant travelling at his own expense, covered by his own account: 60,000 leagues, 120,000 miles making six voyages to Persia and India between the years 1630-1668. In 1675, Tavernier, at the behest of his patron, Louis XIV, published Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (Six Voyages, 1676).
Tavernier was born in Paris of a French or Flemish Huguenot family that had emigrated to Antwerp to escape persecution and subsequently returned to Paris after the publication of the Edict of Nantes which promised protection for French Protestants. Both his father Gabriel and his uncle Melchior were cartographers. Though it is clear from the accuracy of his drawings that Tavernier received some instruction in the art of cartography/engraving, he was possessed of a wanderlust and while still a teenager travelled extensively through Europe and achieved a working knowledge of its major languages.
Tavernier is best known for the discovery/purchase of the 116 carat Tavernier Blue Diamond that he subsequently sold to Louis XIV of France in 1668 for 120,000 pounds the equivalent of 172,000 ounces of pure gold and a letter of ennoblement. (Five years later, Louis had his court jeweller Jean Pitau reset the stone into the 68 carat French Blue and had it set as a hat pin. The gem was reset by his great-grandson Louis XV in The Medal of The Order of the Golden Fleece, stolen in 1792 and was cut again and re-emerged in London 30 years later as The Hope Diamond). In 1669 Tavernier purchased for 60,000 livres the Seigneury of Aubonne, located in the Duchy of Savoy near the city of Geneva and became Baron of Aubonne.
Tavernier’s writings show that he was a keen observer as well as a remarkable cultural anthropologist. His book became a best seller and was translated into German, Dutch, Italian and English during his lifetime. The work is frequently quoted by modern scholars writing of the period.”
Bibliographic References: Graesse VI, 2; Cordier Japonica 391-394; Chahine 4720; Chadenat I, 705.