Bidspirit auction | [SCIENCE AND MEDICINE] - NICOLAY

[SCIENCE AND MEDICINE] - NICOLAY Nicolas de (1517 - 1583) - [Travel And Ethnography – Illustrated 16Th-Century Account Of The Ottoman Empire] - “Le Navigationi et viaggi nella nella Turchia (…) con diverse singolarità in quelle parti dall'Autore viste & osservate. Novamente tradotto di Francese in volgare, da Francesco Flori da Lilla” Antwerp, Guillaume Silvius, 1577. in-4 (214 x 152 mm). ff. (16), 328 (i.e. 408), 32. Complete. 18th century full leather binding richly gilt on spine with raised bands and red morocco label. Marbled endpapers. Engraved title page in ornate border, with 60 full-page woodcut illustrations, without blank. Scarce first Italian edition and highly influential 16th-century Italian edition of the celebrated travel account by Nicolas de Nicolay (1517–1583), French geographer and royal valet to King Henry II. This work describes his mission to the Ottoman Empire in the 1550s and is notable for the vivid depictions of customs, clothing, court ceremonies, and military life, fascination with gender roles, architecture, and ethnic diversity and critical source for early European views of the Islamic world Contains 60 full-page woodcut illustrations, finely printed, showing Turkish soldiers, eunuchs, merchants, dervishes, astrologers, executioners, women in various dress and domestic settings and diverse ethnic groups of the Ottoman Empire Nicolay’s book was one of the earliest illustrated ethnographies of the Islamic world, and inspired countless travel accounts and costume books in the 17th century. •⁠> This lot is located in and ships from the UK. No export license is required for values under £65,000; above this threshold, a UK export license will be needed. Import duties and taxes in the destination country are the buyer's responsibility.