Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. This history of China derives mainly from the writings of the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688), who was sent as a missionary to China, and eventually, despite violent opposition, became Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Beijing Observatory for the Kangxi Emperor. The introduction to this 1854 edition sketches the life of Verbiest and discusses the sources of the text; an appendix gives a description by Verbiest himself of a hunting expedition on which he accompanied the emperor.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ La Vita D. P. Pietro Cotone Pierre Joseph d' Orleans

This book, from the series Primary Sources: Historical Books of the World (Asia and Far East Collection), represents an important historical artifact on Asian history and culture. Its contents come from the legions of academic literature and research on the subject produced over the last several hundred years. Covered within is a discussion drawn from many areas of study and research on the subject. From analyses of the varied geography that encompasses the Asian continent to significant time periods spanning centuries, the book was made in an effort to preserve the work of previous generations.

This Book Is In French. Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text.

This Book Is In French. Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text.

This Book Is In French. Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text.

This Book Is In French. Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text.