ON THE MONGOL EMPIRE
CATROU, FRANCOIS.
Histoire generale de l'empire du Mogol depuis sa fondation jusqua present sur les mémoires portugais de m. Manouchi, venitien.
Paris, Jean de Nully, 1715
4to. In a nice contemporary Cambridge-style mirror binding with five raised bands and richly gilt spine. Blindtooled ornamentation to boards and edges of boards, gilt line to boarders of boards. Super ex-libris to front board. Light wear to extremities, boards with scratches and with small hole. Ex-libris pasted on to pasted down front end-paper. Tear to free front end-paper. Second title-page with repair to lower outer corner, with loss of text. Last 8 ff. with dampstain, otheriwse a nice copy. (8), 272, (24), 207 pp.
Later edition, unrecorded by any of the major bibliographies, of this influential work on the Mongol Empire. It was first published in 4 volumes in 12mo, then in 1725 in 4to. This copy, however, has a title-page dated 1715, and the map is dated 1725. In 2015 Christies sold a copy with an identical imprint (Auction 4035, lot 88, Maurice Burrus). Catrou’s work became very popular and it went through several translation and edition. Catrou based much of his information on the Venetian traveller Niccolao Manucci who spent almost his entire life in India. Manucci would send home the manuscript for "Storia do Mogor" which was lent to Catrou in 1707. To Manucci's displeasure Catrou published his own embellished version, this present work. Manucci’s original emerged in Berlin in 1915 and was quickly translated into three languages. (Brunet VI, 28172 - other editions).
Order-nr.: 60922
DKK 10.000,00