Les six voyages de Jean Baptiste Tavernier ... en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes, pendant l'espace de quarante ans ...
Author: Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689)
Year: 1679-1682
Publisher: Gervais Clouzier
Place: Paris
Description:
3 volumes. 636 pages with 6 illustrations. 481 pages with 24 Illustrations. 7 leaves+folded map+156 pages+folding map+96 leaves+178 pages+8 Illustrations. Small quarto (10" x 7 1/4") bound in original full leather with five raised spine bands with gilt lettering to black spine labels. First edition.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was one of the most renowned travelers of 17th century Europe. The son of a French Protestant who had fled Antwerp to escape religious persecution, Tavernier was a jewel merchant who between 1632 and 1668 made six voyages to the East.
The countries he visited (most more than once) included present-day Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. In 1676 he published his two-volume Les six voyages de Jean Baptiste Tavernier (The six voyages of Jean Baptiste Tavernier). Presented here is the first edition of the book, which was published in Paris by the firm of Gervais Clousier. The complete title and subtitle of the book read: Les six voyages de Jean Baptiste Tavernier, écuyer baron d'Aubonne, en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes, pendant l'espace de quarante ans, & par toutes les routes que l'on peut tenir: accompagnez d'observations particulieres sur la qualité, la religion, le gouvernement, les coûtumes & le commerce de chaque païs, avec les figures, le poids, & la valeur des monnoyes qui y ont cours (The six voyages of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, baron of Aubonne, through Turkey into Persia and the East-Indies, over the course of forty years, and by all possible routes, illustrated with particular observations on the quality, religion, government, customs and commerce of each country, with images, weight, and value of the currencies of each of them). An abridged and very imperfect English translation of the book appeared in 1677.
In the Six Voyages, Tavernier states that he departed from Butler's company, in 1630, with the intention of traveling to Ratisbon (Regensburg), to attend the investiture of the son of Emperor Ferdinand II as King of the Romans. However, as the investiture did not take place until 1636, it is probable that he attended the ceremony between his first and second voyages. By his own account, he had seen Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, and Hungary, as well as France, England and the Low Countries, and spoke the principal languages of these countries.
Condition:
Previous owner's old stamps and names to title, edges rubbed, corners bumped, some staining to head edges else a very good set.
