Voyage de l'ambassade de la Compagnie des Indes orientales hollandaises, vers l'empereur de la Chine, dans les années 1794 et 1795 [...]. Publié en français par M.L.E. Moreau de Saint-Méry.

2 vol., 4to: lxxx-437, xii-520 pp.; 14 pl. (foxing, sl. browned plates, small lack at a corner of the big map, some pp. on bluish paper in the 2nd vol.).

Three-quarter calf, speckled paper, flat spines with red and green labels (lack of paper, corners rubbed).

First edition illustrated (complete) with the 2 earliest American maps focusing on China (China, 106 x 53 cm; plan of Macao, 49 x 37 cm), a large folding plate of the reception of the mission by a mandarin and 9 plates of costumes, bridges, boats, pagodas, carts, etc. Almost day-by-day recounting of life at the VOC (Dutch East Company) embassy under the command of Isaac Titsingh, head of the Dutch trading mission to Emperor Quianlong's Court. Van Braam (1739-1801) was a Dutch-born merchant who emigrated to the US and became American in 1784. He travelled to China in 1790 to take a leadership position at the VOC factory in Guangzhou. A few years later, he convinced his superiors to take a trio to avoid the English embassy and gain trade advantages. Meanwhile, the work, dedicated to George Washington, described 18th-c. Chinese life, in addition stating the list of gifts given to the Emperor. The Dutch translation was published in 1804-1806.
Ref. Cordier, Sinica, 2350. - Landwher VOC 547. - Chadenat 1772 ("très rare"). - Brunet VI:20754. - Tiele II:182.