69 HISTORY & CULTURE 92(CHINA) NIEUHOFF, John. An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China. London, 1673. Tall folio (11 by 16-1/2 inches), period-style full red morocco gilt. $15,000 “It Is Almost Incredible For Any Body To Believe In What State And Pomp These Princes Live, And With What Good Orders Their People Are Governed” Second edition in English, splendidly illustrated with frontispiece portrait, engraved title page, double-page engraved map, 18 full-page folio copper-engraved plates (including one double-page plan) and 94 in-text copper engravings. Nieuhoff, a Dutch official, traveled extensively throughout the East. This is his important first-hand account of his visit to China as an ambassador in 1655-1657, first printed in Dutch in 1665. The present English edition has been significantly augmented with an appendix of copious extracts and additional illustrations drawn from Athanasius Kircher’s China Monumentis (Amsterdam, 1667). Kircher’s massive compendium of Jesuit material on China and the Far East is considered “the first publication of important documents on oriental geography, geology, botany, zoology, religion and language” (Godwin, Kircher, 50). In the present work it comprises over 100 richly illustrated pages. Ogilby’s translation was first published in 1669. Wing N1153. Folding map repaired on verso, with approximately halfinch loss to image along repair; marginal repair to verso of plate following page 139. Some very mild toning to text, light expert cleaning to last dozen or so leaves, plates clean and fine. A very good wide-margined copy. Beautifully bound to period style.
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