Paul Bonnetain - L'Extrême Orient - 1887

Superb illustrated edition with numerous drawings from nature and accompanied by three maps drawn from the most recent documents. This travel and observation narrative devoted to the regions of East Asia blends geographical descriptions, personal impressions, and cultural analyses in a perspective that is both literary and documentary.

The author describes landscapes, cities, ports and trade routes, while taking an interest in the local populations, their customs, their religions and their ways of life, thus offering a vivid and detailed tableau of societies then perceived as distant and fascinating by the European public.

The work highlights the contrasts between ancestral traditions and modern influences, notably under the effect of commercial exchanges and Western presence, while reflecting the representations and imaginaries particular to the 19th century.

Bonnetain adopts a descriptive and narrative style that blends ethnographic curiosity with a sense of picturesque, aiming to educate and captivate the reader through the richness of the observations and the diversity of scenes evoked.

Paul Bonnetain - The Far East - SD (circa 1887) - Maison Quantin -
613 pages

Good binding condition, the work in its dark blue half-leather binding with corner pieces, marbled boards, cover preserved, wear, gilded head, spine with raised bands, gilt titles and author name -

Good interior condition, light browning, title page printed in red and black, illustrated with numerous drawings (some in color) from nature and accompanied by three maps drawn from the most recent documents, marbled endpapers in good condition -

Delivery service ensured within a few days -