Le Bruyn, Cornelius

Travels into Muscovy, Persia, and part of the East Indies ... Translated from the original French. London: Printed for A. Buttersworth, C. Hitch [and others], 1737



Folio (15 3/8 x 9 1/8 in.; 390 x 232 mm, uncut). Engraved frontispiece, engraved portrait of the author by G. Valck after G. Kneller, 3 folding maps, 113 plates (most folding or double-page with two quadruple-page, and many with more than one image), 40 text engravings, woodcut head- and tail-pieces, decorative woodcut initials;  plates are consistently taller and slightly browner than the text leaves, a few minor marginal tears, edges soiled, occasional light marginal spotting. Antique three-quarter calf over marbled paper boards, gold-stamped title on spines.

Ghani, Pakistan 221; Wilson, Persia, p. 33; see Lipperheide Ci 49 (for the first, Dutch edition of 1711)

First edition in english of this beautifully illustrated work, with more than 300 engraved subjects and impressively large plates, such as the celebrated panoramas of Moscow and Ispahan which use 4 sheets each. It is based on the 1718 French edition and uses the same plates.

Le Bruyn, a Dutch painter, had previously made a lengthy tour to the Levant. In 1701, at the age of fifty, he undertook the present extensive journey to Persia and India via Moscow, arriving in Persia in 1703. His publication contains observations on cities, customs, flora and fauna, and antiquities, particularly the ruins of Persopolis. A beautiful, crisp copy.