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The Dutch embassy to the Chinese emperor in 1655: breaking the age-old policy of keeping foreigners out of the country

NIEUHOF, Joan.
Het gezantschap der Neêrlandtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, aan den grooten Tartarischen Cham, den tegenwoordigen keizer van China: waar in de gedenkwaerdighste geschiedenissen, die onder het reizen door de Sineesche Landtschappen, Quantung, Kiangsi, Nanking, Xantung en Peking, en aan het keizerlijke hof te Peking, sedert den jare 1655. tot 1657. zijn voorgevallen, op het bondigste verhandelt worden. Beneffens een naukeurige beschrijving der Sineesche steden, dorpen, regeeringh, wetenschappen, hantwercken, zeden, godsdiensten, gebouwen, drachten, schepen, bergen, gewassen, dieren, etc. en oorlogen tegen de Tarters.

With engraved title, letterpress title-page printed in red and black, full-page engraved portrait of Nieuhof with engraved poem by Jan Vos underneath, one large folding engraved map of China, 34 double-page engraved plates and views, 110 half-page engraved illustrations in text, all in fine and strong impressions. The coat of arms of Spiegel and Witsen in the preliminaries are not present, as is the case in more copies as well as in the French and Latin editions.

With engraved title, letterpress title-page printed in red and black, full-page engraved portrait of Nieuhof with engraved poem by Jan Vos underneath, one large folding engraved map of China, 34 double-page engraved plates and views, 110 half-page engraved illustrations in text, all in fine and strong impressions. The coat of arms of Spiegel and Witsen in the preliminaries are not present, as is the case in more copies as well as in the French and Latin editions.

With engraved title, letterpress title-page printed in red and black, full-page engraved portrait of Nieuhof with engraved poem by Jan Vos underneath, one large folding engraved map of China, 34 double-page engraved plates and views, 110 half-page engraved illustrations in text, all in fine and strong impressions. The coat of arms of Spiegel and Witsen in the preliminaries are not present, as is the case in more copies as well as in the French and Latin editions.

With engraved title, letterpress title-page printed in red and black, full-page engraved portrait of Nieuhof with engraved poem by Jan Vos underneath, one large folding engraved map of China, 34 double-page engraved plates and views, 110 half-page engraved illustrations in text, all in fine and strong impressions. The coat of arms of Spiegel and Witsen in the preliminaries are not present, as is the case in more copies as well as in the French and Latin editions.

With engraved title, letterpress title-page printed in red and black, full-page engraved portrait of Nieuhof with engraved poem by Jan Vos underneath, one large folding engraved map of China, 34 double-page engraved plates and views, 110 half-page engraved illustrations in text, all in fine and strong impressions. The coat of arms of Spiegel and Witsen in the preliminaries are not present, as is the case in more copies as well as in the French and Latin editions.



Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1670. Folio. Contemporary blind-stamped vellum. With engraved title, letterpress title-page printed in red and black, full-page engraved portrait of Nieuhof with engraved poem by Jan Vos underneath, one large folding engraved map of China, 34 double-page engraved plates and views, 110 half-page engraved illustrations in text, all in fine and strong impressions. The coat of arms of Spiegel and Witsen in the preliminaries are not present, as is the case in more copies as well as in the French and Latin editions. [8], 208, 258, [10] pp.

Second edition of Nieuhof's famous account describing the first embassy of the Dutch East India Company to the court of the Emperor of China in the years 1655-57 in command of Pieter de Goyer and Jakob de Keyser. It is the most profusely illustrated work on China of the period, with plates showing Chinese towns, Chinese life and animal- and plant life.
The work was first published by Jacob van Meurs at Amsterdam in 1665. It became very popular and was not only reprinted in 1670 with a number of plates re-engraved (this edition) and in 1693, but also translated and published in French (1668), German (1666), Latin (1668) and in English by John Ogilby in 1669 and 1673.

Joan Nieuhof (1618-1672) came into the service of the VOC, after having traveled in the service of the Dutch West India Company through the West Indies and Brazil, from 1640-1649. After two year's traveling through the East-Indies as a steward of the VOC, he was sent on this Dutch embassy to the Chinese imperial court, probably also because he was known to be an accomplished draughtsman.
The embassy, together with embassies from the Mogols, the Tibetans and the South Tartars, was received in Peking after a five-month journey from Canton. The object of the embassy was to obtain free trade throughout China. By permitting these delegations, the emperor was breaking with the age-old policy of keeping foreigners out of China.
As usual the embassy also served as an explorer's expedition and a number of scientist were members of it. They studied, described and drew from nature everything interesting they passed en route. So the present account is not only very lively written, but also richly illustrated with large views of all ports and places visited, starting with Batavia from which the expedition sailed, and with numerous text-engravings illustrating in detail Chinese life and customs in the 17th century, including beautiful series of engravings of the plants and animals, all after Nieuhof's drawings. All the plates are present, although the list of plates calls for one more: the double-page plate of the 'Paolinx Pagode', which is only present in the Latin edition and therefore is always lacking.

With the first leaves a bit frayed. Good copy with the ownership's stamp of Friedrich Emanuel Hurter (b. 1787; 'Reichshistoriograff in Wien') on the verso of the frontispiece and his signature on the first flyleaf, dated 1805.
Corbett, ''The Dutch Mission to Peking in 1655'', in: Quaerendo 16 (1986), pp. 131-36; Landwehr & V.d. Krogt, VOC 539; Lust 539 & 541; Tiele, Bibl. 800.

Related Subjects: 17th Century  China  Discovery & Exploration  East Indies  Indochina  Travel & Voyages 

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