Second Voyage du Pere Tachard

Hardcover. French. Gilles Hortemels. 1689 2nd French ed. ISBN: N/A. (iv) 402 [8] pp with vignettes and six folding plates.

Re-bound in modern full calf with bands on spine and red label with gilt titling. NB, book looks as if it has been trimmed on the top margin but the size corresponds to the original. All edges gilt. ( et des Jesuites envoyez par le Roy au Royaume de Siam).

A second embassy to Siam was sent in March 1687, in which Tachard again took part. The embassy consisted of five warships, led by General Desfarges, and was intent on bringing the Siamese embassy home.However, apart from the reaffirmation of the 1685 commercial treaty, the mission achieved little else. The disambarkment of French troops in Bangkok led to strong nationalistic movements in Siam which ultimately resulted in the 1688 Siamese revolution in which king Narai died, the ringleader was executed, and Phra Petratcha became king. In the later part of 1689, Desfarges captured the island of Phuket in an attempt to restore French control. Part of the book touches on the Cape of Good Hope, where the governor, Simon van der Stel and the visiting commissioner of the VOIC, H A van Rheede tot Drakenstein, entertained the French party and gave them a tour of the settlement, as well as helping them with their scientific and astronomical observations. For this the governor was reprimanded later, as France was at war with the Dutch. French text. Book No: /1001821