[Gaubil, Antoine], [Tuli£en], and others | Souciet, Etien...

Observations mathématiques, astronomiques, geographiques, chronologiques et physiques, tirées des anciens livres chinois, ou faites nouvellement aux Indes et a la Chine, par les peres de la Compagnie de Jesus. 1–3.

Paris, chez Rollin Libraire, 1729–32. 4to. viii + xxxii + 296; + ii + xxx + 188; + ivpp. (first leaf blank) + 374 pp. + 1 large engraved map + 10 engraved plates (8 folding). Three engraved head-pieces. Contemporary mottled calf, spines gilt. bindings somewhat rubbed and with minor defects. First edition. The bulk of Gaubil’s earlier work was published by Souciet in the present work. Volume one includes i.a. “Observations astronomiques” on pp. 1–106, “Observations geographiques” on pp. 107–81, which includes a section “Plan de Pe’king” by Gaubil, “Remarques chronologiques”, and “Observations physiques”. Volume one also contains (on pp. 148–75) a travel account of the Mandarin Tuli£en entitled “Relation chinoise contenant un itinéraire de Péking à Tobol, & de Tobol au Pays des Tourgouts” edited with notes by Gaubil. This exceptional travel account, originally published in Chinese and Manchu in Peking in 1723, appears here (abridged) for the first time in a Western language, translated from the Chinese version. It describes a journey to Russia and a visit to the Kalmuk Khan Aiuki on the Volga in 1714. Tuli£en was the official historian of a group of six chief emissaries sent by the Manchu emperor Kiangxi to the Torgut Mongols. A German translation appeared in 1734. The first Russian edition, which appeared in 1764, is a translation from the Manchu text by Ilarion Rossokhin with notes by Gerhard Friedrich Müller. A second translation into Russian by Aleksei Leontiev appeared in 1782, reprinted in 1788. An English version, edited by Sir George Thomas Staunton, was published in 1821.
The second volume (1732) contains a Brief History of Chinese astronomy, and the third a Treatise on it. Cordier, BS, 1, col. 211 & China illustrata nova, 364, BS, 2, col. 1455. De Backer & Sommervogel, 7, col. 1401. Lust 1159.

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• libraire: Lowendahl Rare Books Ltd (THAILAND)