Bagavadam : ou, Doctrine divine; ouvrage indien, canonique, sur l'Etre Suprême, les dieux, les géans, les hommes, les diverses parties de l'univers Foucher d'Obsonville

In-8° relié, demi-basane de l'époque, dos richement orné, pièce de titre de maroquin grenat, LXIV-348 pages et 2 f. n. ch. d'avertissement. Ex-libris du Marquis de Turenne d'Aynac qui a porté quelques annotations à la plume dans les marges. Magnifique exemplaire aux coiffes intactes L'auteur, voyageur et naturaliste né à Montargis en 1734, mort près de Château-Thierry en 1802, s'embarqua pour les Indes Orientales vers 1753. De Smyrne, il gagna Alep par voie de terre et atteignit Bagdad après diverses aventures fort mouvementées. De là, il descendit le Tigre, le Chat-el-Arab, s'embarqua sur le golfe Persique et atteignit la côte de l'Inde Orientale. Adventurer turned naturalist and orientalist, Foucher d'Obsonville (17341802) left France when he was only 19 years old for what would become a 20-year sojourn in India and parts of the Middle East. He served various French officials on military and diplomatic missions, barely survived the plague and a near-shipwreck, escaped his share of wild beasts, and was a close observer of the local customs and fauna he encountered. Upon his return to Paris around 1774, he was examined by eminent physicians from the Invalides and the Faculty of Medicine, who confirmed that plague and guinea worm were the cause of his scarring. In 1783, at Buffon's urging, he published his above work published anonymously and dedicated to Buffon. It is arranged by animal; the accounts were based on Foucher's own observations and experiences as recorded in his journals. In 1784 an English translation by Thomas Holcroft was published in London, made with Foucher's cooperation and identifying him as the author.