Louis Le Comte - Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état présent de la Chine - 1696

New Memoirs on the Present State of China - Paris, Jean Anisson, 1696 - (28) 508 pp - leather bound

Good. Planed and bumped spots, some loss of leather at the head and spine, nicks at the bottom about 1 cm torn, corners exposed.. No endpapers, inner pages browned, here and there a spot, damp spot(s) in the margin of about 40 pages. Some dog-eared corners. One or two wormholes at the top of the text between pages 232 and 413, worm mark between pages 255 and 273. Loss of the lower half of the outer margin of leaf 285/286. A crack in the inner margin, 2 cm, from the first text leaf.

Contains 18 engravings (no frontispiece) - all depicted
1. The Throne of the Emperor of China, placed in the middle of one of the largest courtyards of the Palace, and raised on five bases of white marble (crack, 2 cm, in the lower margin)
2. Beijing Observatory (lower corner torn off)
3. Armillary Sphere of the Zodiac. 1st instrument.
4. Equinoctial Sphere. 2nd instrument. (First plate)
5. Equinoctial Sphere. 2nd instrument. (Second plate)
6. Azimuthal Horizon. 3rd instrument.
7. Quarter circle of 6 feet radius. 4th instrument.
8. Sextant of 8 feet radius. 5th instrument.
9. Celestial Globe of 6 feet in diameter. 6th instrument.
10. Way to pass a boat from one canal to another of different level. / Levees bordering the Canals of China.
11. Chinese Scholar.
12. Chinese Mandarin in ceremonial dress.
13. Chinese Soldier.
14. Chinese Lady in informal dress.
15. Tree that the Chinese call Outom-Chu.
16. Confucius the Prince of Chinese Philosophers, died at the age of 73; 478 years before the Birth of Christ.
17. Machine for cutting the Aiman.
18. Way of navigating the Torrents of China.

To be sent by registered mail.