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Description
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First French edition (first printed in Dutch in 1714); vol. 2 only. The Dutch artist "travelled through Russia and Persia (Ardabil - Kum - Kashan - Isfahan - Persepolis - Lar - Persian Gulf) to East India during 1701-1708. Of these well-travelled paths he was able to contribute many new observations, many of them scientific, and his travel description, hailed by Gabriel as one of the best of its time, well deserves critical analysis and acclaim. The especial value of the work lies in its numerous engavings of cities, places, ruins, animals, and plants. Le Brun considered the preparation of accurate drawings as a necessary duty of the traveller. Of the ruins of Persepolis he brought home the best illustrations available at the time, as well as the first legible cuneiform inscriptions" (cf. Henze). - T.p. and flyleaf with cut-out defects (restored); unattractively deleted stamp on reverse of first plate (slight paper defect; restored); further clipped defects to first leaf of text and last index leaf as well as the instructions to the bookbinder (slight loss to text; restored). Large tear to p. 367f. Upper spine-end professionally restored. The fine plates are in good, clear impressions throughout., Title in red and black., Title vignette., On p. 347 of v. 2 is a picture of a kangaroo, believed to be the first sketched from real life. Le Brun saw it in the garden of the Governor of Java., Main Heritage Shelves General, DS7 .B43 1718, Book, Item-ID: i16862673, BIB-ID: 1509760, Includes bibliographical references and index. |
