2 vols., 8vo text, folio atlas containing the map, plans and plates. Vol 1, 460pp; Vol 2, 480pp. Atlas volume contains a large folding lithographed route map, a plan of the Forbidden City, a folding plate of the Russian Embassy at Peking, 8 lithographed plates – mostly after Chinese oil or gouache originals – and a title-page vignette. Modern 20th-century tan calf-backed marbled boards by Laurenchet of Paris. Spotting to preliminaries of volume 1 and occasionally elsewhere, volume 2 partly unopened. Atlas volume with marginal damp-stain to lower margin of vignette title, plan of the Forbidden City and one other plate, folding map with 10 cm closed tear. First French edition, recounting the experiences of a Russian envoy to China in the years 1820-1821. Of note, the atlas volume includes a large plan of the Forbidden City, the first to be published in a Western book. The author, Russian diplomat Egor Fedorovich Timkovski, accompanied the Russian Orthodox mission to Peking departing Kyakhta in August 1820. Russia had maintained a presence in Peking since 1728. The two volumes of text are annotated by the distinguished sinologist Heinrich Julius Klaproth. Entire text is in French.
