BRUYN (Cornelis de). Voyage au Levant, C'est-à-dire,... Lot 19

BRUYN (Cornelis de). Voyage au Levant, C'est-à-dire, dans les Principaux endroits de l'Asie Mineure, Dans les Isles de Chio, Rhodes, Chypre, &c. De même que dans les plus considérables Villes d'Égypte, Syrie, & Terre Sainte. Paris: Jean-Baptiste-Claude Bauche fils; Rouen: Charles Ferrand, Robert Machuel, 1725. - 5 volumes in-4, 246x186: portrait, (8 ff.), 648 pp., (6 ff.), 1 map, 12 plates; (1 f.), 565 pp., (6 ff.), 18 plates; (3 ff.), 520 pp.., (6 ff.), 3 maps, 13 plates; (1 f.), 522 pp. (6 ff.), 1 map, 29 plates; (1 f.), 498 pp. (7 ff.), 13 plates. Tan calf, triple cold fillet framing the boards, ornate spine, interior gilt roulette, marbled edges (period binding). First collective edition in French, published by Abbé Antoine Banier. Cornelis de Bruyn (c. 1652 - c. 1727) was a traveler and painter from The Hague. He spent almost 27 years traveling the world. A pupil of Theodoor van der Schuer, he first went to Italy in 1674, spending two years in Rome. He then spent eleven months in Livorno, awaiting a Dutch ship to Smyrna. It has been speculated that he was acting as a spy, hence his prolonged stay in a port of little interest to a painter. Perhaps this secret mission provided him with the means to finance his first voyage. In 1678, he embarked on a seven-year voyage to the Orient, visiting several Aegean islands, Constantinople, Egypt and Palestine. On the way back, he stopped off in Venice, where he settled for eight years, working for the Bavarian painter Johann Karl Loth, known as Carlotto. Returning to Holland in 1693, after 15 years' absence and now recognized as a painter, Bruyn was encouraged by the burgomasters of Denver and Amsterdam to publish an account of his travels. The book, published in 1698, was a success. Driven by a desire to discover new horizons, Bruyn set off again in 1701 on a journey that was to last eight years and take him to Russia, Persia and the Dutch East Indies. This edition, revised, corrected and augmented with remarks by ancient and modern authors, includes the accounts of these various voyages. At the end of the last volume are Corneille Le Bruyn's Remarques, Sur les Tailles-douces de l'Ancien Palais de Persépolis. Mises au jour, par Messieurs le Chevalier Chardin, & Kemper, suivies d'un Extrait d'un voyage par Mr Des Mouceaux, Communiqué par Monsieur le Comte de Bonneval son Neveu which appears here for the first time. The illustrations include a portrait of Cornelis de Bruyn at the head of the first volume, a header engraved by Bacquoy, an unsigned lettering, 5 maps, including 4 fold-outs, and 85 plates, including 12 fold-outs, engraved for the most part after the author's drawings. A good copy in contemporary binding. Fine restorations to bindings, notably to hinges, headpieces and corners. Staining to leaves and binding of fourth volume. Non-engraved stains on some boards. Tear with missing lower corner of folio V2 of last volume, without damage to text.