AUBARET (Gabriel). Vocabulaire français-annamite... Lot 37

AUBARET (Gabriel). Vocabulaire français-annamite et annamite-français, précédé d'un traité des particules annamites. Bangkok: Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique, 1861. - In-8, 227 x 143: (2 ff.), XCV, 96 pp., (2 ff. first blank), 157 pp. Havana half-sheepskin, smooth mute spine (period binding). First edition of the world's first French-Vietnamese dictionary. Written by Lieutenant Gabriel Aubaret (1825-1894), French consul in Bangkok and Orientalist, it was published at the behest of the French military authorities, specifically Vice-Admiral Charner, Commander-in-Chief of the French naval forces in Indochina. Printed in Bangkok by the Catholic Mission for the Propagation of the Catholic Faith, it was primarily intended for military personnel fighting in Indochina. According to Georges Taboulet, in his 1942 book Les débuts de l'Amiral Bonard en Cochinchine, only 200 copies were printed. A copy in its modest publisher's binding, complete with the two titles at the beginning. Binding faded, hinge on first board cracked, top of spine damaged with small chips, some rubbing, corners dull, tears to paper on boards. The interior is very well preserved. Notebooks 16, 17, 18 and 19 have been bound out of order (19, 17, 18, 16).