DU HALDE, Jean Baptiste (1674 1743), de la Compagnie de Jésus

GEOGRAPHIC, HISTORICAL, CHRONOLOGICAL, POLITICAL AND PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE EMPIRE OF CHINA AND CHINA TATARIA, enriched with general and particular maps of these countries, the general map & particular maps of Thibet, & Korea; & decorated with a large number of figures & thumbnails engraved in intaglio, Paris, J.-B. Mercier, 1735.
Complete, in 4 volumes, first edition.
Illustrated with 15 engraved plates, 8 of which are double and 2 leaflets (procession of a viceroy, wedding procession, funeral, plants, ships and fisheries, coins and seals, costumes, silk processing, portraits, music, buildings), 7 city maps, and 43 engraved maps, 21 of which are leaflets and 21 leaflets (Tartary, China and its provinces, Korea, Siberia, Tibet).
A true encyclopedia of China, the book contains a geographical description of the fifteen provinces, an abridged history, a description of the country's institutions, its industry, literature, religions and sciences. It was mainly written on the basis of the edifying and curious Letters of Jesuit Missionaries in China, published in 34 volumes from 1703 to 1776, which Du Halde edited for thirty years, as well as unpublished reports and translations of Chinese texts on very diverse subjects. It also provides an overview of the relationship of Bering explorations with the first description of Alaska.
The book was very successful as soon as it was published; the philosophers of the Enlightenment found something to feed their reflections and polemics on religions, civilizations and mores, while the manufacturers were interested in the secret of porcelain making or silkworm breeding. The book's reputation is also due to the maps that illustrate it: the first map of Korea by Father Jean-Baptiste Régis and the maps of the provinces of China, Tartary and Tibet by Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon of Anville.