171 HOLMES (Samuel). Voyage en Chine et en Tatarie à la suit - Lot 171

171 HOLMES (Samuel). Voyage en Chine et en Tatarie à la suite de l'ambassade de Lord Macartney. Paris, Delance & Lesueur, 1805. 2 volumes in-8, xlv, 171 p. ; 188 p., pl., granulated fawn calf with ornate smooth spine, double gilt fillet on covers (period binding). First French edition, edited by orientalist Louis Langlès, and illustrated with 52 hors-texte plates, including a folded plan, based on drawings by William Alexander, the expedition's official artist, forming an exceptional iconographic source on premodern China. The account, based on Alexander's direct observations, describes an 18-month sea voyage, taking in Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, Java and Sumatra before reaching Peking and the Qianlong emperor's summer residence at Jehol. Provenance: from the library of Jean Debry (1760-1834), attested by his bookplate engraved with the imperial eagle pasted on the back cover. Jean Debry was a deputy at the Convention, where he voted for the death of Louis XVI, and a member of the Comité de salut public (Public Safety Committee), before coming into contact with Bonaparte and being re-elected to the Cinq-Cents. He cooperated in the Floréal coup d'état and was appointed Prefect of Doubs. During the Hundred Days, he accepted the prefecture of Bas-Rhin from the Emperor, but was dismissed during the Second Restoration and exiled to Mons, where he lived out his remaining years. Bindings slightly rubbed with spotting and a trace of ink on the upper cover of volume II, otherwise a fine copy. (Cordier, Sinica, 2387; Chadenat, 5071).