China - Lot 570

China NIEUHOFF (Jean) L'ambassade de la Compagnie Orientale des Provinces Unies vers l'empereur de la Chine ou Grand Cam de Tartarie, faite par les Srs Pierre de Goyer, & Jacob de Keyser. Leiden, Meurs, 1665. 2 parts in one folio volume: 7f., 289pp. 1f. - 1f., 134pp. (missing leaf dd3 (pages 213-214) - The final warning leaf is missing); illustrated with an engraved frontispiece title (the Cam de Chine and his court in front of a supplicant), a portrait of Colbert, 7/34 double-page plates (city views including the court of the Forbidden City), 108 vignettes in the text (cities, ceremonies, costumes... captioned in Dutch). Poorly figured, angular restorations of worm marks by crystal paper with minor text damage, light rings, brown stain at head. ½ modern parchment with corners, eggplant title-piece on spine, short margins. First French edition, translated by Jean Le Carpentier, published at the same time as the Dutch original, with the same illustration. The second part is entitled Description générale de l'Empire de la Chine. This embassy marked the beginning of Dutch trade with China. Incomplete work, sold as is.