Journal d’un voyage en Chine en 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846.
Author: Jules Itier
Year: 1848 ~ 1853
Edition: First edition
Publisher: Paris; Dauvin et Fontaine
Maroon ¾ morocco over cloth. Three frontispieces and a geological map. Volume II with erroneous page numbering, jumping from page 316 to page 321, however, the text continues without loss.
The volumes are illustrated with three different frontispieces after the author’s daguerreotypes taken in China. A copy of the extremely rare first edition of Jules Itier’s travels in China and South East Asia.
Jules Alphonse Eugène Itier (1802–1877) was a French customs inspector and amateur daguerreotypist, who began experimenting in the process soon after the public announcement of Daguerre’s discovery in 1839. In December 1843, Itier accompanied French diplomat Théodore de Lagrené on his journey to China, where the diplomat had been posted to complete negations for the Treaty of Whampoa. This was a commercial agreement between France and China concerning the opening of ports in the regions of Canton and Macau. Itier documented the conclusion of the treaty and took a number of daguerreotypes of Chinese people and landscapes in Canton.
The frontispieces in volumes one and two, Masion de campagne de Pan Tsen Chea près Canton and Vue de la ville flottante de Canton are after two of the original daguerreotypes Itier produced travelling in Canton. The frontispiece of the third volume, Vue du fort cochinchinois de Non-Naÿ depicts the Non-Nay Fortress on the Vietnamese Island of l’Îlot.
