ASIA - ELPHINSTONE (Mountstuart) Paris, Nepveu,... Lot 23

[ASIA] - ELPHINSTONE (Mountstuart) Paris, Nepveu, 1817. Tableau du Royaume de Caboul et de ses dépendances, dans la Perse, la Tartarie et l'Inde, offrant les mœurs, usages et costumes de cet empire. 3 vol. in-18 (13.3 × 8.6 cm), bradel blue paper-covered boards, red title page and gilded tomaison (period boards). Original French edition, translated by M. Breton from the English original published in 1815. It is illustrated with 14 stipple-engraved and colored plates. Mountstuart Elphinstone, a British diplomat, was sent in 1809 by the government of Calcutta to establish a treaty of defense with Kabul, against Napoleon; beginning with a brief history of Afghanistan that ends with the arrival of the English in 1809, he delivers at once an account of a diplomatic mission, a documentary account and a literary relation. JOINT BERNIER (François). Voyages [...] contenant la description des Etats du Grand Mogol. Amsterdam, David Paul Marret, 1724[-1723]. 2 vol. in-12 (16 × 9.5 cm), marbled calf, ornate smooth spine, red titles and tan tomaisons, red edges (period binding). New edition, illustrated with a repeated title-frontispiece, 3 fold-out maps, 8 plates including 6 fold-outs, all engraved on copper. Volume II, upper spine split, scuffing to second plate with epidermis; tear with missing 3rd map, Sources de Nil, II, p. 343. Provenance 1. Cl.-J.-B. Huet de Froberville (printed bookplate 1861). 2. d'Andlau (old manuscript bookplate on title). Bibliography 1. Chadenat, n°822. Lipperheide, n°1483.