In 8° (mm 188x120); pp. (16), 268, (2 blank) with allegorical copperplate frontispiece, 6 plates all copperplate engraved f.t. Beautiful coeval stiff full vellum binding, title on gilt spine gusset, marbled cuts. This volume contains a description and history of China with insights into the currency, customs, religion and language of that country. The plates illustrate views of cities, customs and monuments. Well-preserved internally, with some blooming. Nice copy with minimal traces of time, antique ownership note visible at foot of title page. Binding in very good condition. The work, originally written in English, published between 1737 and 1766 and soon translated into major European languages, originally comprised 26 volumes. Thomas Salmon (1679-1767), an English historian, geographer, and polygraph, traveled in Europe and the East and West Indies accompanying George Anson on his journey around the world. According to William Cole, an English antiquarian, Salmon wrote most of his work in Cambridge, where he ran a coffee house, later moving to London. The work has been the subject of numerous translations, remakes and imitations in various languages and was printed in Venice in Italian by Albrizzi over a period of several years, enriched with numerous original copperplate engravings, not found in the English version; it traces a careful historical analysis of the nations of the world, enriched by geographical and artistic descriptions of the cities. Morazzoni, p. 253. Cremonini, 64.