Grosier, Jean-Baptiste

De la Chine, ou description générale de cet empire, rédigée d’après les mémoires de la mission de Pé-Kin. Ouvrage qui contient la description topographique des quinze provinces de la Chine, celle de la Tartarie, des îles et des divers Etats tributaires qui en dépendent; le nombre de ses villes; le tableau de sa population; les trois règnes de son histoire naturelle, rassemblés et donnés pour la première fois avec quelque étendue; et l’exposé de toutes les connoissances acquises et parvenues jusqu’ici en Europe sur le gouvernement, la religion, les lois, les mœurs, les usages, les sciences et les arts des Chinois. Troisième édition, revue et considérablement augmentée. Avec deux cartes. . . Tome premier [-deuxième, -troisième, -quatrième, -cinquième, -sixième, -septième]

De la Chine, ou description générale de cet empire, rédigée d’après les mémoires de la mission de Pé-Kin. Ouvrage qui contient la description topographique des quinze provinces de la Chine, celle de la Tartarie, des îles et des divers Etats tributaires qui en dépendent; le nombre de ses villes; le tableau de sa population; les trois règnes de son histoire naturelle, rassemblés et donnés pour la première fois avec quelque étendue; et l’exposé de toutes les connoissances acquises et parvenues jusqu’ici en Europe sur le gouvernement, la religion, les lois, les mœurs, les usages, les sciences et les arts des Chinois. Troisième édition, revue et considérablement augmentée. Avec deux cartes. Par M. l’Abbé Grosier, bibliothécaire de son altesse royale monsieur, et administrateur de sa bibliothéque a l’arsenal. Tome premier [-deuxième, -troisième, -quatrième, -cinquième, -sixième, -septième]. Seven volumes. Paris: Pillet & Arthus Bertrand, 1818[–1819–1820]. Third edition, revised and expanded.

Octavo (8 1/16” x 4 7/8”, 205mm x 125mm).
Vol. I: binder’s blank, π⁴ a–e⁸ 1–25⁸ χ², binder’s blank[$1 signed]. 246 leaves, pp. [8] (half-title, imprint, title, blank, 3pp. dedication, blank) i ii–lxxx 1 2–400 401 402 403–404. With 2 folding engraved maps.
Vol. II: binder’s blank, π² 1–34⁸ 35⁴,binder’s blank [$1 signed]. 278 leaves, pp. [4] (half-title, imprint, title, blank) 1 2–552.
Vol. III: binder’s blank, π² 1–29⁸, binder’s blank [$1 signed]. 226 leaves, pp. [4] (half-title, imprint, title, blank) 1 2–464.
Vol. IV: binder’s blank, π² 1–31⁸ 32⁶ 33², binder’s blank [$1 signed]. 258 leaves, pp. [4] (half-title, imprint, title, blank) 1 2–512.
Vol. V: π² 1–29⁸ 30², binder’s blank [$1 signed]. 236 leaves, pp. [4] (half-title, imprint, title, blank) 1 2–468.
Vol. VI: binder’s blank, π² 1–29⁸ 30⁶, binder’s blank [$1 signed]. 240 leaves, pp. [4] (half-title, imprint, title, blank) 1 2–475 [1] (blank).
Vol. VII: π² 1–29⁸ 30⁴, binder’s blank [$1 signed]. 238 leaves, pp. [4] (half-title, imprint, title, blank) 1 2–472.

Bound in contemporary tree calf with a blind fillet border. On the spine, six panels. Title gilt to red straight-grained morocco in the second panel, number gilt to red morocco in the fourth. All edges of the text-block sprinkled red. With blue marbled end-papers and red silk marking ribbons.

Scattered peripheral scuffing. Stub tears and light offsetting to the maps. Leaves b6 in vol. I and 33₁ in vol. II with témoin. Loss to the lower margin of vol. II 4₂ and upper fore-corner of 28₆. Occasional leaves left uncut or partially uncut throughout volumes III–VII. Manuscript library ticket of “Bibl. Stadl./ 91.” to a paper label on the front pastedown of each volume.


Jean-Baptiste Grosier (1743–1823) was a French abbot and critic of art and literature. Though not a traveler himself, Grosier had access to extensive missionary reports and primary documents, particularly those produced by Jesuit missionaries who had lived and worked in China for decades during the XVIIIc. Grosier’s most notable work, the present title, was first published in 1788 and synthesized printed and manuscript Jesuit materials — particularly drawing on the work of Jean-Baptiste du Halde — on Chinese culture, politics, religion, art, and daily life. The seven-volume work provides commentary on the quotidian, governmental, and intellectual aspects of the Qing court.

Grosier admired China’s sophistication and morally instructive civilization, countering the often paternalistic or infantilizing travel narratives common during the Enlightenment. The description was first published as volume XIII of in Joseph Anne Marie Moyriac de Mailla’s (1669-1748) Histoire generale de la Chine, ou, Annales de cet empire, released between 1777 and 1785. De la Chine was widely read in pre-Revolutionary France and was published well into the years of the Republic, influencing both scholarly and popular ideas of China during a period of growing intellectual globalization.

The paper label of the “Bibl. Stadl.” followed by a number appears on several books either in institutions or on the market, principally, seemingly, from the early XIXc, e.g., Droz’s 1815 Études sur le beau dans les arts at the Getty Research Institute (no. 17). Does it point, perhaps, to a state library in a Swiss canton?

Cordier, Sinica 61-62.

Catalogued by G.R. Murdock.

Item #GRM0023

Price: $2,000