Pelliot, Paul

LES GROTTES DE TOUEN-HOUANG [VOLUMES 1, 4, 5, AND 6 ONLY]

Paris: Libraire Paul Geuthner, 1920-1924. Quartos, Four Volumes. In Very Good condition. Housed in cream cloth slip cases with paper labels to front boards and spine. Bindings lightly bumped and labels moderately age-toned. Plates and text leaves lightly bumped at edges and corners and lightly age-toned with scattered foxing. Text in French.

CONTENTS: Tome Premier. "Grottes 1 a 30" (64 plates plus 1 general site plan)--Tome Quatrieme. "Grottes 111 a 120 n" (plates 193-256)--Tome Cinquieme. "Grottes 120 n a 146" (plates 257-320)--Tome Sixieme "Grottes 146 a 182 et Divers" (plates 321-336, 338-376); Plate 337 was never printed, as noted in table of contents. SH consignment.

[Oversized book(s). Additional postage necessary for expedited/international orders. Economy International shipping unavailable due to size/weight restrictions. For international/expedited customers, please inquire for rates.].

1362145

Special Collections

Price: $2,000

NOTES

Four volumes from the Mission Pelliot en Asie Centrale.

Paul Pelliot (1878-1945) was a French orientalist who led a major expedition to Xinjiang, China, between 1906 and 1909. Notably, he followed in the footsteps of Aurel Stein by visiting the famous library cave at Dunhuang, where his fluent Chinese and extensive knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, and Turkic languages enabled him to evaluate thousands of manuscripts in a matter of days and select those he found most interesting for transport back to Paris. Pelliot's description of this experience seemed so far-fetched to his contemporaries that they accused him of fabricating it and acquiring forged documents. It was only when Aurel Stein published his account of the cave several years later that Pelliot's reputation was restored.