Russia
LE BRUN, Corneille [BRUYN, Cornelis de].
Voyages [...] par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales. Ouvrage enrichi de plus de 320 tailles douces.
Wetstein, Amsterdam 1718. 2 volumes folio (33.5 x 20.6 cm.). [8], 252; [2], 253-468 pp., title-pages printed in red and black, engraved frontispiece, portrait of the author, head-piece, 3 double-page maps, 115 plates, many folding or double-page, 44 engraved illustrations in text; without half-title to volume 2 and the binder's instruction leaf, small wormhole in gutter at beginning of volume 1, very few tears without loss. Contemporary speckled calf gilt, spines with raised bands gilt in compartments, gilt lettering to one, brown morocco label lettered in gilt to another one; rubbed at extremities, hinges weak. Provenance: Library of the earls of Macclesfield (blindstamped crest to titles, armorial book plate).
Very fine copy of the popular first French edition, richly illustrated and with striking large panoramic plates, such as the celebrated panoramas of Moscow and Ispahan. De 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. Here in the second edition of the author's native language, the book contains observations on cities, customs, flora and fauna, and antiquities, particularly the ruins of Persopolis. De Bruyn was possibly the first European traveller to visit Pasargarde. Ghani 221; Schwab 74; cf. Lipperheide 547 (Dutch edition).
Price: £ 12500
US Dollar Price: $ 24790
Stock Number: 73171