VLIET, Jeremias van.
Beschrijving van het koningrijk Siam. Mitsgaders het verhaal van den oorsprong, onderscheyd, politijke regering, d'ecclesiastique, en costuymelijke huyshoudinge van d'edelen en borgerlijke lieden: als mede den loop der negotie, en andere remarquable saaken des Koninkrijks Siam ...
Including:
(2) [DESFARGES, Marshal]. Aanmerklijk en naaukeurig verhaal der staats-omkeringen, nu laatst in 't jaar 1688 in Siam voorgevallen.
(3) [ORLEANS, Pierre Joseph d']. Het leven en daden van d'heer Constantyn Phaulcon, eerste geheyme raad van het koningrijk Siam.
Leiden, Frederik Haaring, 1692. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With an engraved title-page, 6 decorated woodcut initials, 6 woodcut headpieces, and a woodcut vignette on the typographical title-pages of all parts. Contemporary vellum. [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [4], 34, [2 blank]; 12, 103, [1] pp.
€ 4,500
Very rare, first edition of a detailed account of the Kingdom of Siam, present-day Thailand, discussing the origins, the political and ecclesiastical environment, the customs of the local nobility, and the commercial relations of the country. The work is especially noteworthy because it includes the first detailed Western description of Ayutthaya, the former capital of Siam which was destroyed in 1767. The work is very scarce, as we have only been able to trace one other copy in sales records of the past hundred years.
Jeremias van Vliet (1602-1663) was the director of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) trading post at Ayutthaya (from 1638 until 1642), as well as governor of Malacca, and member of the Council of India. He wrote four works about Siam between 1636 and 1640, which are all considered to be important sources for the history of this country in the early 17th century. His description of Siam, which he wrote in 1638 but was published posthumously, is included in the present work. It is the first and longest part, but has been bound at the end in the present copy. The second part of the work is a translation of Marshal Desfarges Relation des révolutions de Siam en 1688 (1691), which gives and account of the Siamese revolution of 1688. The third and final part is a translation of Histoire de M. Constance (1692) by Pierre Joseph d'Orleans. This text is a study on the life of Constantin Phaulkon (1647-1688), a Greek adventurer and controversial figure, who became the first advisor to King Narai the Great (1632-1688) of Siam.
Ads 2 and 3 have been bound directly after the dedication of ad 1, thus before the main text of ad 1. The vellum is somewhat stained, the boards are slightly warped, the binding has been restored, with later vellum on the back board, the end papers and end bands have been replaced in the 20th-century. The end papers have been repaired in the gutter with brown buckram, the work is slightly browned throughout, the upper margins have been cut, without affecting the text. Otherwise in very good condition. Cordier, Indosinica, 724; Landwehr, VOC, 576; STCN 833014706 (6 copies); Tiele 1169.
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