Live auction - Lot 624
Take your parachute and jump
[Thailand]
Description du royaume de Siam [...].
Amsterdam, D. Mortier, 1714
Hammer price: €
850
€ 400 / 600
Live bidding (Drouot*) Live bidding (Invaluable*)Bidding is closed
Lot description
2 vol., 8vo: [20]-436-[3], [4]-312-[1] pp. (some browning).
Contemp. calf, gilt-orn. spines with raised bands, red sp. edges (corners rubbed and bumped, joint starting to split, def. to head vol. 1).
Reissue of the Amsterdam ed. by the French diplomat to Siam La Loubère (1642-1729). Ill. with 40 maps, plans and views. Fun fact: La Loubère makes one of the earliest accounts of a parachute. In a vivid manner he describes some acrobatics performed by a man to entertain the king of Siam in the royal palace. The man would jump from a high place with two umbrellas landing into trees, rooftops, and sometimes rivers.
Ref. STCN (only one copy in The Hague). - BnF.
Prov. Unidentified arm. bookpl.