Legatio Batavica ad magnum Tartariae chamum Sungteium, modernum Sinae imperatorem [...]

Legatio Batavica ad magnum Tartariae chamum Sungteium, modernum Sinae imperatorem.Historiarum narratione, quae legatis in provinciis Quantung, Kiangsi, Nanking, Xantung, Peking, et aula imperatoria ab anno 1655 ad annum 1657 obtigerunt, ut et ardua Sinensium in bello Tartarico fortuna, provinciarum accurata geographia, urbium delineatione, nec non artis et naturae miraculis ex animalium, vegetabilium, mineralium genere per centum et quinquaginta aeneas figuras passim illustrata et conscripta vernacule [...]

First Latin edition of this journey to China by Johan Nieuhof, translated by Georg Horn, illustrated with a portrait of Nieuhof, thirty-six double-page plates and numerous figures in the text.
Full brown sheep binding with metal clasps, spine with five raised bands with blind tooled designs in the compartments, triple blind fillet border on boards, red edges (contemporary binding recased). Head and foot of spine and corners rubbed, surface wear to boards. Without the Colbert portrait, as in many copies; the engraved frontispiece as well as the map of China are lacking. Pages 163 to 166 missing, pages 59-60 and 167-168 of the second part missing. Repaired tears to pages 3 to 8 without loss of text, more heavily trimmed, restoration with paper addition to the margin of p. 3, minute marginal tears to pages 4 to 6. One repaired tear p. 58 of the second part, without loss. Tear with loss to the last two lines of pp. 175-6. Wormholes to the plate of the city of Batavia. Repaired tear to verso of the Macao plate, to verso of the Canton city plan, to verso of the plate of the Congress of Vice-Roys at Canton with a loss to the margin not affecting the plate. Reinforcements with discreet paper additions to verso of most double plates.
One of the most abundantly illustrated works on 17th-century China, containing views, costumes, antiquities, animals and plants. This epic journey from Canton to Beijing recounted and illustrated by Nieuhof, accompanying the ambassadors of the powerful Dutch East India Company (VOC), had a strong impact on early modern Europe.
After negotiations prevented by the Portuguese at Macao, a new expedition to the imperial court at Beijing was organized by the East India Company. Departing in June 1655 from Jakarta (Batavia) to obtain new commercial routes, the embassy proved fruitless - except for this superb chronicle by Nieuhof, who observed and sketched from his ship numerous Chinese cities and ports, as well as their encounters with officials and common people. The order, wealth and potential profitability of China are transcribed through his Western eye in the hundreds of plates that compose the work. In their detail and sophistication, they depict a socio-natural order emblematic of the industry of the Chinese people and the authority of the new Qing dynasty.
Provenance: manuscript ex-libris on title page, "Ex Bibliotheca Comitis Ioannis Nepomuceni Esterhazy", probably Count Johann Nepomuk Esterhazy, nobleman of Hungarian origin, who was a musician and friend of Mozart.