Histoire de Tamerlan, empereur des Mogols et conquérant de l’Asie

First edition (cf. Cordier, Bibl. Sinica, 2772; Chadenat, 912; Barbier, II, 736 d; Brunet, Table, 28267.)

Contemporary half marbled sheep over green parchment corners, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets and floral tools, red morocco title labels, pink paste-paper boards.

A small wormtrack at the foot of the spine of the second volume, some rubbing to the spines and boards, light foxing.

The epistle to the Comte de Maurepas is signed Margat, a member of the Society of Jesus, and notes that he was a missionary in Saint-Domingue. However, Barbier and Cordier attribute the work to Father Brumoy.

Tamerlane (or Timur-Leng) was born in 1336 in the Djagatai, at Kech, near Samarkand, and was descended from Genghis Khan through the female line.

In 1360, he succeeded his uncle Seif-Eddin as prince of Kech and chief of the Barlas tribe, under the suzerainty of Tughluq-Timur, khan of the Djagatai. After the latter's death (1363), he seized the region and had himself proclaimed khan (1370). He then embarked upon a series of conquests across Asia: he invaded Persia and the provinces to its north, advanced as far as the Kyrgyz steppe (1390), then turned his arms towards southern Russia, sacked and devastated Azov, before directing his campaign towards India.

In 1398, he crossed the Indus, fought Mahomet IV under the walls of Delhi, took the city, and then the whole of Hindustan. He then turned westward, seized Syria from the Sultan of Egypt (1400), marched on Baghdad which he destroyed, and then confronted the Ottomans, defeating Bajazet in the bloody battle of Ankara (1402), taking the sultan prisoner. Without consolidating his power in Asia Minor, he turned east and marched against China (1404) at the head of more than 200,000 men, dying en route at Otrar, in the khanate of Khokand, in 1405.

An engaging biography of the celebrated conqueror.