Relation du Voyage de Monseigneur l'evesque de Beryte, Vicaire Apostolique du Royaume de la Cochinchine [bound with] Relation abregee des mission et des voyages aux Royaumes de la Chine, Cochinchine, Tonquin & Siam

Bourges, Jacques de & Pallu, Francois

1683 & 1682. Paris. Charles Angot. Two volumes in one, 8vo. Eighteenth-century sang-de-boeuf calf, triple rule gilt border to boards, spine richly gilt in compartments, all edges gilt, expertly recased, some wear to boards, corners very slightly bumped. A fine copy lightly browned, ownership inscription to first title.

A finely bound copy of the first French accounts of Siam –that of Bourges-, with early relations on China, Vietnam, Tonkin and the East Indies, from the library of Charles de Lorraine. The Bourges is in its third edition and the Pallu in its second edition (all editions are rare). Father de Bourges (c.1630 - 1714) was a member of the first Catholic mission to Siam, arriving with his two fellow missionaries in 1662 to Ayuthaya. Since Siam was tolerant of other religions it became a safe place for the missionaries to establish themselves, and in 1664 a second group led by Monseigneur Pallu joined the fathers in Siam after a two-year journey overland. Francois Pallu (1626 - 1684) was a French Bishop and missionary in Asia and a founding member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society; he was originally recruited by Alexander de Rhodes and sent to the Far East along with other missionaries –namely La Motte. Both volumes together combine a considerable portion of the French knowledge of the East at the end of the 17^th century.

 

Some copies contain a map of the region by Du Val, although not all; this copy is without the map.

 

Distinguished provenance: Charles de Lorraine (possibly Charles III, Duke de Elbeuf), his signature on the first title page.

 

Cordier Sinica, 827.

1683

$6,000.00