4 vols folio, mm. 422×282; Contemporary full calf binding, spine with ribs, marbled endpapers, golden edges; pp. [4], VIII, LII, III, [1], 592, 25 plates out text; pp. [4], IV, 725, [3], 10, plates out text; pp. [4], IV, 564, [4], 5 plates out text; pp. [4], II, 520, 25 plates out text. Woodcut Head-piecs, end-pieces and Initials. 4 half-title and 4 Title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignettes by M. Baquoy after A. Humblot, half-titles. 65 engraved maps and plates (including 1 page of engraved sheet music) by Delahaye, Desbrulins, and Fonbonne after d'Anvillee, Humblot, Lucas, Le Parmentier and others. A total of 5 Initials, 5 Head-pieces, 65 plates out text, many on double page or folded. Ex libris ‘Domus S.I.’ pasted inside cover. Nice condition.
Rare first edition. Monumental work accompanied by an impressive iconography. Hill: “the first definitive European work on the Chinese empire”. Tooley:”the principal cartographic authority on China during the 18th century.” The work contains an impressive number and variety of details about the Chinese political institutions, history, education, language, medicine, science, customs and artifacts. The tables include maps, city maps, views, scenes of life and lifestyle, portraits. The plates are etched by Delahays, Leparmentier, Desbruslin, Bailleuil; also Bourguignon d'Anville, considered the best cartographer of his time, participated in this work. The maps were drawn by the Jesuits on the basis of recent surveys commissioned by Emperor Kangxi, imprinted in woodcut in Beijing, then sent to Paris to be engraved by d'Anville: include the second European Atlas of China, the first in Tibet and Korea and include the first map published in the expedition of Vitus Bering on the north Pacific, outlining for the first time a part of Alaska. These maps represented a huge improvement on the geographical knowledge of the time: for some remote parts of northern China, Mongolia and Tibet, this work has been the only appropriate reference to the twentieth century. It is printed here for the first time the report of the Bering Strait crossing that took its name: Relation succinte du voyage du capitaine Beering dans la Siberie. The success of the 'Description' was remarkable: it was translated into English in 1736, then reprinted in 1737 in a slightly reduced edition.