first edition
1738 · London
by DU HALDE, Jean Baptiste
London: Printed by T. Gardner in Bartholomew-Close, for Edward Cave, 1738. Full Description:
DU HALDE, Jean Baptiste. A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary. Together with the Kingdoms of Korea, and Tibet: containing the geography and history (natural as well as civil) of those countries. Enrich'd with general and particular maps, and adorned with a great number of cuts. From the French of P.J.B. Du Halde, Jesuit: with Notes geographical, historical, and critical; and other improvements, particularly in the maps, by the translator. In two volumes. London: Printed by T. Gardner in Bartholomew-Close, for Edward Cave, 1738-1741.
Second and best English edition, and first of this translation. Two folio volumes (). [4], xi, [3], xii, 124, 127-138, 141-678; [4], 49, 46-236, 229-235, [244]-388, [10, index] pp. With 64 engraved plates, plans and maps after J. B. B-d'Anville and others, of which many are folding. A large folding map frontispiece with hand-colored routes. Numerous engraved head and tail pieces and initials. The title-page to volume II is dated 1741. Much expanded from the first English edition of 1736 which only contained 20 maps and plates.
Contemporary full tree calf, almost invisibly rebacked to style. Boards double-ruled in gilt. Spines elaborately stamped in gilt Spines with red and black morocco spine labels, lettered in gilt. Board edges tooled in gilt. All edges speckled red. Previous owner's armorial bookplate to front pastedown of each volume. Previous owner's old ink inscription dated 1762 on top margin of each title-page. Some mild toning to endpapers. A few of the folding maps have been reinserted on newer stubs. Small old tape repair to closed tear verso to a double-page plate, not affecting illustration. Internally very clean. Overall a very good set.
"The first definitive European work on the Chinese empire" (Hill)
Du Halde was a French geographer and Jesuit. The volumes explore China's inhabitants, their plant life, industry, their emperors, and even displays a table of The I'Ching as well as a plate of the celebrated Confucius. Du Halde is credited with compiling the first definitive book on the Chinese Empire. An added interest is that the last volume of this work is notable for its account of Vitus Bering's first expedition to Alaska. "An Account of the Travels of Capt. Beerings, into Siberia" (volume II, pp.382-384), details Bering's 1728 voyage through the eponymous straits; the double-page "A Map of Capt. Beering's Travels from Tobolsk to Kamtschatka" (volume II, pages 382-383) is based on Bering's manuscript map, which was given to the King of Poland and printed here. This also contains the first map of Korea.
Though Du Halde never visited China himself, he "has drawn his materials from a variety of sources, especially from the printed and manuscript accounts of the missionaries" (Lowndes 693). The maps are based on Jesuit surveys conducted between 1708 and 1718. The "General Map of Tibet" called for in the "Directions" on the last page of vol. II was never published.
Cox, Vol. I, p. 335. Taylor, p. 26. Hill, Pacific Voyage, 498 (3rd edition).
HBS 69428.
$22,500. (Inventory #: 69428)
DU HALDE, Jean Baptiste. A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary. Together with the Kingdoms of Korea, and Tibet: containing the geography and history (natural as well as civil) of those countries. Enrich'd with general and particular maps, and adorned with a great number of cuts. From the French of P.J.B. Du Halde, Jesuit: with Notes geographical, historical, and critical; and other improvements, particularly in the maps, by the translator. In two volumes. London: Printed by T. Gardner in Bartholomew-Close, for Edward Cave, 1738-1741.
Second and best English edition, and first of this translation. Two folio volumes (). [4], xi, [3], xii, 124, 127-138, 141-678; [4], 49, 46-236, 229-235, [244]-388, [10, index] pp. With 64 engraved plates, plans and maps after J. B. B-d'Anville and others, of which many are folding. A large folding map frontispiece with hand-colored routes. Numerous engraved head and tail pieces and initials. The title-page to volume II is dated 1741. Much expanded from the first English edition of 1736 which only contained 20 maps and plates.
Contemporary full tree calf, almost invisibly rebacked to style. Boards double-ruled in gilt. Spines elaborately stamped in gilt Spines with red and black morocco spine labels, lettered in gilt. Board edges tooled in gilt. All edges speckled red. Previous owner's armorial bookplate to front pastedown of each volume. Previous owner's old ink inscription dated 1762 on top margin of each title-page. Some mild toning to endpapers. A few of the folding maps have been reinserted on newer stubs. Small old tape repair to closed tear verso to a double-page plate, not affecting illustration. Internally very clean. Overall a very good set.
"The first definitive European work on the Chinese empire" (Hill)
Du Halde was a French geographer and Jesuit. The volumes explore China's inhabitants, their plant life, industry, their emperors, and even displays a table of The I'Ching as well as a plate of the celebrated Confucius. Du Halde is credited with compiling the first definitive book on the Chinese Empire. An added interest is that the last volume of this work is notable for its account of Vitus Bering's first expedition to Alaska. "An Account of the Travels of Capt. Beerings, into Siberia" (volume II, pp.382-384), details Bering's 1728 voyage through the eponymous straits; the double-page "A Map of Capt. Beering's Travels from Tobolsk to Kamtschatka" (volume II, pages 382-383) is based on Bering's manuscript map, which was given to the King of Poland and printed here. This also contains the first map of Korea.
Though Du Halde never visited China himself, he "has drawn his materials from a variety of sources, especially from the printed and manuscript accounts of the missionaries" (Lowndes 693). The maps are based on Jesuit surveys conducted between 1708 and 1718. The "General Map of Tibet" called for in the "Directions" on the last page of vol. II was never published.
Cox, Vol. I, p. 335. Taylor, p. 26. Hill, Pacific Voyage, 498 (3rd edition).
HBS 69428.
$22,500. (Inventory #: 69428)
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