JEAN BAPTISTE TAVERNIER / JAN VAN LUYKEN: De zes reizen van de heer J. Bapt. Tavernier, Baron van Aubonne, die hy gedurende de tijt van veerting jarenin Turkijen, Persien, en in d Indien,langs all de wegen,die derwaarts ,strekken,gedaan,heft,Eerste deel daar in Turkiyen,Persien en t Serrail gehandelt word, together,: Niieuwe en naakeurige beschryving van t Serrail of Hof van de Turksche Kaizer. Amsterdam 1681-1682 First edition in Dutch only the first two parts, covering the Levant, Turkey, and Persia. Two further parts, on India and Japan, were published separately later. 4to (19 × 16 cm). Modern leather. Text and plates clean and bright with only a few isolated spots. Overall very good plus. Complete with engraved frontispiece, [36], 576, 126, [2] pp., and all 23 copper-engraved plates (15 folding) by Jan van Luyken, one of the finest Dutch painters and engravers of his time. The plates depict remarkable views of the Levant, including torture methods, a Sultan’s hunt, and the throne room of the Seraglio. Tavernier toured the Levant for twenty years, and his travels became one of the classical works of the 17th century. These two parts describe his journeys through the European, Asiatic, and African provinces of the Ottoman Empire as well as Persia. Included is a detailed description of the Ottoman Palace (Seraglio), based most likely on information supplied by a Frenchman and an Italian who had served there. This rare Dutch edition is particularly noteworthy for its illustrations, absent from all other editions. The drawings almost certainly derive from eyewitnesses in the Levant, certainly most from Jan van Luyken himself, who signed several and is thought to have traveled there in his youth. Not in Atabey or Blackmer, and absent from nearly all major collections of the Levant.