Voyages Celebres & Remarquables, Faits de Perse aux Indes Orientales

Johann Albrecht von Mandelslo; Adam Olearius; Abraham de Wicquefort

Amsterdam: Michel Charles Le Cene, 1727

Folio. [2] 12, 439 pp.; [2] pp. 445-808p (pagination continuous), 43 of 44 plates. 2 Volumes in One Bound in contemporary vellum. 7 raised bands. Leather spine label. Good binding and cover. Spine and hinges restored. Faint soiling to vellum. Pages tanned with a several pages with some offsetting and foxing. Lacks frontis and added title. All 27 plates & 16 maps are present. Brunet IV, 178; Cordier, Japonica, 367-68; Cordier, Sinaca 2077; Lust 342 

Jean Albert Mandeslo set out in 1636 with the Embassy that the Duke of Holstein sent to Russia and Persia. He visited India, Ceylon, Madagascar, West Africa (Congo), and returned four years later. His story gives a very vivid picture of luxury, vices, curiosity and absolute disregard for life under the despotic tyranny of the Moghul Empire under Shah Jahan. In the port of Surat he arrived in April 1638 after he went to Ahmedabad and Agra. Although his observations of life in the capital are useful, he apparently did not hear anything about the Taj Mahal, which at that time was in the sixth year of building.