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Second French edtion of one of the most famous fictitious travel books ever published

PSALMANAAZAR, George.
Description de l'isle Formosa en Asie. Du Gouvernement, des loix, des  moeurs & de la religion des habitans: dresseé sur les mémoires du sieur George Psalmanaazaar, natif de cette isle. Avec une ample & exacte relation de ses voiages dans plusieurs endroits de l'Europe, de la persécution qu'il y a soufferte de la part des Jesuites d'Avignon, & des raisons qui l'ont porté à abjurer le paganisme, & à embrasser la religion Chrétienne reformée.


With large folding engraved map of Japan, and illustrations of Formosan altars, costumes, architecture, ships, a palanquin carried by two elephants, a funeral procession also including elephants, and the Formosan alphabet etc. on 17 engraved plates, 2 folding.

With large folding engraved map of Japan, and illustrations of Formosan altars, costumes, architecture, ships, a palanquin carried by two elephants, a funeral procession also including elephants, and the Formosan alphabet etc. on 17 engraved plates, 2 folding.

With large folding engraved map of Japan, and illustrations of Formosan altars, costumes, architecture, ships, a palanquin carried by two elephants, a funeral procession also including elephants, and the Formosan alphabet etc. on 17 engraved plates, 2 folding.

With large folding engraved map of Japan, and illustrations of Formosan altars, costumes, architecture, ships, a palanquin carried by two elephants, a funeral procession also including elephants, and the Formosan alphabet etc. on 17 engraved plates, 2 folding.

With large folding engraved map of Japan, and illustrations of Formosan altars, costumes, architecture, ships, a palanquin carried by two elephants, a funeral procession also including elephants, and the Formosan alphabet etc. on 17 engraved plates, 2 folding.



Amsterdam, Pierre Mortier, 1708. Contemporary vellum. With large folding engraved map of Japan, and illustrations of Formosan altars, costumes, architecture, ships, a palanquin carried by two elephants, a funeral procession also including elephants, and the Formosan alphabet etc. on 17 engraved plates, 2 folding. XLIV, 406, (6) pp.

Second French edtion of one of the most famous fictitious travel books ever published. It offers a complete and detailed description of the island Formosa and of the life and customs of its people, including alphabets of its language, supposedly written by a native of Formosa, then living at London, but all of it of the author's own invention, written in the best manner of the genre. The real name of the man calling himself George Psalmanazar was never officially solved. Still, Feenstra Kuiper in: Japan en de Buitenwereld in de 18e eeuw, 1921, p. 213, ascribes the authorship to N.F.B. de Rodes. Some 56 years after the publication of the present travel book, in 1764, Psalmanazar's memoires were published, posthumously, still under his old pseudonym.
It seems that the author was born in Southern France, and after his education at Franciscan and Jesuit schools, embarked upon a successful career as con-man. First he pretended to be persecuted for his religion and gained money and favours of many a credulous clergyman. Then, when he was sixteen, he hit upon the idea of passing for an inhabitant of Formosa and spent much time and energy preparing himself. He invented an entire language, grammar and all, and a complete life-style, to sustain his pretense. An English army chaplain discovered the "Formosan", baptized him into the Church of England and brought him to London where he was hailed as a prodigy. He translated the Church catechism into his "Formosan tongue", and wrote the present famous description of Formosa.
The book almost immediately caused a literary quarrel over its authenticity, but the author gave up his hoax only after ten years, when absolute proof was presented of some absurdities and discrepancies in his book. During his later years he repudiated his previous behaviour, demonstrated his penitence and lived a model life, even convincing Dr. Samuel Johnson that he was a man of considerable talent, deserving of respect.

Good copy.- (Back-cover sl. dam.; fore-edge sl. stained).
Alt Japan Kat. 1227; Cordier, Japonica, pp. 408-9; Lust 235; Walravens 214; cf. Hill pp. 242-3 (English ed.); Cox II, p. 476 (idem); Scheepers I, 650 (Dutch ed. of 1705); Cat. Ned. Hist. Scheepv. Mus. p. 233 (idem); cf. Robert Bracey, George Psalmanazar, Impostor and Penitent, in: "Eighteen Century Studies", Oxford, 1925.

Related Subjects: Asia  Cartography  Popular Books 

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