Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën, vervattende een naaukeurige en uitvoerige verhandelinge van Nederlands Mogentheyd in die gewesten, benevens eene wydlustige beschryving der Moluccos, Amboina, Banda, Timor, en Solor, Java .. Suratte .. Choromandel, Pegu, Arracan, Bengale, Mocha, Persien, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Malabar, Celebes of Macassar, China, Japan, Tayouan of Formosa, Tonkin, Cambodia, Siam, Borneo, Bali, Kaap de Goede Hoop en van Mauritius.

Dordrecht, Amsterdam, Joannes van Braam, Gerard onder de Linden, 1724-1726.5 parts in 8 volumes. Folio. Contemporary half calf, spines gilt and with black title-labels (later boards). With engraved allegorical frontispiece, printed title-page in red and black, folding portrait of Valentijn, 19 portraits of the Governors-General, and 326 illustrations, maps, plans, bird's-eye views and plates (most of them double-page or folding; including fragments of Javanese manuscripts).First edition. -The most important early work documenting the history of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the East Indies and the Far East, which never can be superseded as many of the documents of which the author made use, do not longer exist. François Valentijn (1666-1727) was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church who lived for many years on Amboyna and Java. During this period he collected an enormous mass of information, especially in the fields of history, geography and ethnology, concerning all parts of the world where the Dutch East India Company was active: Indonesia, with large parts on Batavia and the Moluccas, Persia, Malacca, Ceylon, India, Cape of Good Hope, Japan, China and Formosa. The work is profusely illustrated with fine engraved maps, plans, portraits and spectacular views. They are engraved by the best artists of the time like F. Ottens, J.C. Philips, G. Schouten, J. Goeree etc. mostly after designs by M. Balen. Apart from the fine engravings the work is of particular interest for its cartography. It contains interesting maps of Australia, probably drawn after manuscript maps now lost. For his descriptions of the natural history of Amboyna Valentijn used i.a. the unpublished 'Amboinsch Dierboek' by the famous naturalist Rumphius, of which the original manuscript has been lost. - (Not inserted and also not mentioned in the plate-index is the portrait of Governor General De Haan). - With bookplates of J.C. Pabst and A.A.H. Stolk. - A truely desirable copy.Tiele 1121; Cat. NHSM p.502; Landwehr, VOC, 467; Ruinen C 44; Alt-Japan-Katalog 1570; Cordier, Bibl. Japonica (and) Indosinica col. 426-428 (and) col. 927-930; Nissen, ZBI, 4213; SAB IV, p. 549.