Het Gezantschap Der Neêrlandtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, aan den grooten Tartarischen Cham, den tegenwoordigen Keizer van China.Een Naukeurigen Beschreyving der Sineesche Steden.2 parts in 1 vols. Title printed in red and black.

With engraved frontispiece, 2 full-page coat of arms, folding map of China (small tears along fold), engraved author's portrait, 34 double-page plates, 110 half-page text engravings, engraved head-piece and initial, woodcut ornamental head- and tail-pieces. (8), 208, 258, (10) pp. Folio. 17th century vellum (new end-papers). Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1665. First edition. A famous account on the first trade mission of the Dutch East India Company to the Emperor of China by Pierre de Goyer and Jacob de Keyser, who left Batavia on 14 July 1655 and returned on 31 March 1657. Nieuhoff (1618-1672) was of German birth, but devoted much of his life to the service of the Dutch East India Company, spending nine years in Brazil. He then went out to China, was governor of Ceylon, returned to Holland and then departed again for the Far East. He died in Madagascar. The present book is extraordinarily rich in its depictions of landscapes, seaports, towns and cities, as well as plants and animals and costumes. According to Tiele, the plate of Paolinxi called for in the Instructions to the Binder, is not found in most copies.- A handsome, well-margined copy with all the engravings in bright condition and sharp, fresh impression. - Not in Lipperheide but cf. Le 1 (incomplete); Cox I, p. 325; Cordier p. 2344; Brunet IV, 77; Tiele, p. 179 (no. 800); Kress S.1276. GEOGRAPHY:TRAVEL ; China ; ASIA ; GRAPHIC ARTS:ILLUSTRATED BOOKS ;