AVRIL (Philippe). Voyage en divers Etats d'Europe... Lot 42

[AVRIL (Philippe)]. Voyage en divers Etats d'Europe et d'Asie, entrepris pour découvrir un nouveau chemin à la Chine. Contenant plusieurs remarques curieuses de physique, de géographie, d'hydrographie et d'histoire. Avec une Description de la grande Tartarie, & des différens peuples qui l'habitent. A Paris, chez C. Barbin, J. Boudot, G. & L. Josse, 1692. In-4, [10] f., 406 p., [12] f. (table, privil., pl., contemporary havana calf, 5-nerved spine, gilt title, ornate caissons, gilt roulette at the edges, speckled edges (defects including rubbed headbands and spine, 2 worn corners; browning, mack. in margin p. 231, worm tract in margin of last 20 f., light stain in margin p.1). First edition of the account of the voyage of Jesuit Father Philippe Avril (1654-1698), who was commissioned by Louis XIV to search for a new land route to China, but had to abandon his enterprise because of the tsar's ban on crossing Russian territory. The illustrations include a fold-out map of Siberia and Kitay, 5 vignettes at the head of the chapters, one with the dedicatee's coat of arms, and 3 copper-engraved plates by Vallet (sledges, a full-length portrait of a Tartar Calmouc and a naval battle among the Cossacks). Finally, a portrait of the dedicatee, the Polish general Stanisaw Jan Jablonowski (1634-1702), engraved by Etienne Picart; rejected by Russia, it was to the Polish king Jan III Sobiesky that Father Avril, before resolving to return to France, had unsuccessfully sought diplomatic support.