Johan Brelin - Beskrifning öfver en äfventyrlig resa til och ifrån Ost-Indien, Södra America, och en del af Europa - 1758-1772

Unique Swedish composite volume from the 18th and 19th centuries containing three original historical works in a single contemporary half-leather binding.
Exceptional Content & Historical Significance
• Johan Brelin (1758): First edition of Beskrifning öfver en äfventyrlig resa til och ifrån Ost-Indien, Södra America, och en del af Europa. This is a seminal work in Swedish travel literature, featuring the very first description of Brazil in the Swedish language.
• Unique linguistic pioneer work: Pages 48 and 49 contain the first printed dictionary and numeral guide for Chinese (Cantonese) in Sweden, complete with woodcut characters and phonetic transcription.
• Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1772): First Swedish edition in translation by Johan Fredrik Grundel of Rese-beskrifning öfwer Levanten. A highly sought-after extract detailing the Ottoman Empire’s governance, culture, and religion in the 18th century.
• Berndt von Schinkel (1815): The rare political satire Den sista Propagandismens Begrafnings-Fest. An anonymous historical-political fragment written by a former Bonapartist in direct relation to Napoleon’s final fall at Waterloo.
Provenance and Condition
• Unified Provenance: All three works bear the same early ownership signature of the historic collector Albert Lindström on the title pages. This proves that the volume has remained intact as a set since the 19th century.
• Contemporary binding: The book is bound in an authentic period half-leather binding with gilt tooling on the spine and Rococo-style floral decorations. The spine title RESA remains partially visible. The natural wear on the boards and the ends of the spine attest to the binding’s genuine age and historical patina.