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With the first coloured lithographs depicting Indonesian costume and topography

RAFFLES, Thomas Stamford & John CRAWFURD.
Description géographique, historique et commerciale de Java, et des autres iles de l'Archipel Indien; contenant des détails sur les moeurs, les arts, les langues, les religions et les usages des habitans de cette partie du monde, ouvrage traduit de l'Anglais, par M. Marchal.

With large folding map of the Indian Archipelago (355 x 430 mm), lithographed by Jobard, coloured in outlines by hand, folding map of Java (133 x 405 mm) coloured by hand, 10 full-page colour-printed lithographed costume plates all coloured by hand, and numerous views and illustrations on 38 full-page lithographed plates, incl. 2 on both sides of one leaf.

Brussels (and Paris), H. Tarlier, libraire & Jobard, lithographe, 1824 (-25). Large 4to. Contemporary calf, tooled in gilt and blind, both sides with broad composite border and centre ornaments in a romantique japanese style, spine ribbed in 4 compartments, title lettered in second compartment, others richly gilt, g.e. (J.H. PETERS). With large folding map of the Indian Archipelago (355 x 430 mm), lithographed by Jobard, coloured in outlines by hand, folding map of Java (133 x 405 mm) coloured by hand, 10 full-page colour-printed lithographed costume plates all coloured by hand, and numerous views and illustrations on 38 full-page lithographed plates, incl. 2 on both sides of one leaf. XIX, (1 blank), 364 pp.

First and only edition of a famous description of Java, beautifully illustrated with the earliest colour-printed lithographs of Indonesian costume, and with numerous views and musical instruments, illustrations of Indonesian art, religion and objects from daily life, including music and the Malayan alphabet. The work, issued in in 12 parts in Brussels and Paris in 1824 (-1825), is a French translation of a compilation of two earlier works: (1): the famous The history of Java (London 1817) written by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826), Lieutenant Governor of Java during the British administration from 1811 to 1816, and (2) the History of the Indian Archipelago (Edinburgh 1820) by John Crawfurd (1783-1868), army doctor on Java during the English administration.
Raffles had paid much attention to the history, geography, and administration of Java, and Crawfurd had given much room to the arts, languages, religions, institutions and commerce of the inhabitants of Indonesia. Taking the best from both descriptions and adding some maps and numerous fine plates, Marchal made an important and quite original tribute to the island of Java.The 10 highly interesting printed coloured lithographed plates are after the plates by William Daniell in Raffles's The history of Java, as a consequence appearing here in reverse. Apart from being the first coloured lithographs of Indonesian costume and topography the much underrated illustrations have an additional interest in that they were printed by J.B.A.M. Jobard, one of the pioneers of lithographic printing, at his press in the Rue de la Chancellerie, Brussels.
The uncoloured 38 lithographs of Javanese antiquities, music, musical instruments, weapons, temples, gods and goddesses, etc. are mainly after the plates in in the books by Raffles and Crawfurt. The plates are unsigned except for plate 16 and the large map, which are by Hilaire Antoine Kreins (1806-1862), who first worked with Jobard and later became engraver at the 'Depot of War' at Brussels. The map of Java was a mineralogical map made in 1812 by Thomas Horsfield.The work was published when the Netherlands and Belgium were still a United Kingdom with Brussels as its capital, and the King officially expressed his satisfaction to Jobard and Marchal in August 1825, who granted him the predicate "éditeur à la lithographie royale".

Fine copy.

Bastin-Brommer, p. 9; Landwehr, Col. plates 397; Cordier 1109; cf. Hill, p. 245 & Bastin-Brommer, p. 5-7 (Raffles), and Hill, p. 386 & Bastin-Brommer, p. 7 (Crawfurd).

Related Subjects: Bindings Cartography Colonial History Costumes East Indies Indonesia Java

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