Very rare first French-language edition of a description of Tibet, written by the German zoologist and botanist Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811). The text was translated from German by Baron Jean de Reuilly (1780-1810?), explorer of the Crimea and the Black Sea. "[Pallas] soon attracted the attention of Catharine II of Russia and was invited to St Petersburg, where he was appointed professor of natural history at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1767. At the request of Catherine, he was very quickly placed in charge of an academy expedition into Russia and Siberia" (Howgego). The first part of the work is devoted to the description of Tibet according to accounts of Tibetan lamas (Buddhist teachers) established among the Mongols. The second part is dedicated to a report of the celebrations and ceremonies during the period from 22 June to 12 July 1729, in the small village Ourga, to celebrate the rebirth of Koutoukhta, one of the most distinguished priests of Mongolia.With a faint water stain throughout, otherwise in very good condition and nearly untrimmed. Lust 207; cf. Cordier, Sinica, col. 2879; Howgego, to 1800, P10.