Du Halde, Jean-Baptiste

2 volumes, folio (15 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.; 394 x 235 mm). Modern half calf over marbled boards, spines gilt, lettering and numbering pieces. 63 (of 64) maps by (most folding), plans, and plates by J. Basire, E. Bowen, G. Child, J.B.B. d'Anville, R. W. Seale and others, several text illustrations, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, one engraved headpiece and initial in vol. 2; lacks general map of China, brown streak running through the midpoint of five maps, some marginal staining and browning to a few plates and maps, map of Chinese Trees and Roots torn at top and bottom slightly affecting images, 6-inch tear to II:4H1 affecting about one-third of text, light to moderate browning throughout (but vol. II much brighter), some marginal foxing, staining, and dust-soiling, hole in left margin of vol. I title-page just costing one letter in title, leaf I:a2 loose.

ESTC T148343; Cordier, Sinica 50; Löwendahl 409

The first complete English edition, and the most comprehensive survey of China printed in the eighteenth century, drawn from the accounts and surveys of twenty-seven Jesuits. The maps, by D'Anville and others, were drawn from recent surveys conducted by the Jesuit missionaries and are considered to be "the principal cartographic authority on China during the 18th century" (Tooley). The work also contains the first separate map of Korea, along with a previously unpublished account of that country by Jean-Baptiste Régis. It is also notable for including an account of Bering's 1728 voyage to Siberia through the eponymous straits. The double-page "Map of Capt. Beering's Travels from Tobolsk to Kamtschatka" is based on the manuscript map the explorer gave to the King of Poland before it was passed to Du Halde. Lastly, this encyclopaedic work presented readers with the splendor of the Chinese empire, by also providing valuable information on its political institutions, education, language, literature, medicine, science, industry, religion, and customs.