China.- Nieuhoff (Jan) L'ambassade de la Compagnie Orientale des Provinces Unies vers l'empereur de la Chine, first edition in French, additional engraved pictorial title, letterpress in red and black with vignette, engraved portrait of dedicatee, 34 engraved double-page plates, numerous engraved vignette illustrations throughout, lacking folding engraved map, lacking final f., a couple of plates perhaps mounted on later stubs, a couple of ff. with paper repairs at edges, minor worming throughout (small trails, no major losses, but sometimes affecting text or plates), some spotting and minor soiling, contemporary mottled calf, rebacked, a little rubbed at extremities, folio, Leiden, for Jacob de Meurs, 1655.

⁂ An important work, in two parts; the first an account of travels through Chinese provinces and cities, the second considering China's natural history, the practices and habits its people. The book was an immediate success, largely because of the impressive illustrations after drawings by the author, which brought to life this little known part of the world.