AMIOT (Joseph-Marie) - The Missionaries of Peking. Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences, les arts, les moeurs, les usages, [...] des Chinois. Paris, Nyon, 1776-1791. 9 vol. in-4° bound in full leopard-printed fawn calf, spine ribbed, decorated and gilt. triple fillet stamped on the covers, double fillet gilt on the edges (Binding of the period). Decorated with a frontispiece and 142 plates engraved out of text of views, linguistic plates, military structures, etc. First edition. An authoritative work on China at the time, written by missionaries including Joseph Amiot and Aloys Kao, dealing with linguistic, cultural, geopolitical, military and artistic issues... Our copy comprises 9 of the 15 volumes in this edition. Good condition, some browned pages and plates, slight foxing. Armorial bookplate of Henri Tronchin and label of the Bibliothèque de Bessinge Provenance: Bibliothèque Tronchin-Givaudan then by descent to the present owners Good condition Binding : Some defects to the headpieces, with some missing parts depending on the vol. and some parts a little detached. Corners slightly dented Minor spotting on some boards Gilding a little faded on some spines Inside pages: Some foxing of varying density depending on the quire and volume. Some spotting and light soiling on some pages. Some pages and plates browned Some reversals in page numbering Several numbering errors without missing pages, notably in Vol.1 Small tear in margin on p.76 of Vol.2 Collation: Vol 1: Pages: [2] ff, XVI pp, 501 pp (noted 485), [1] p Plates: 1 frontispiece and 9 plates Vol 2: Pages: VIII pp., 650 pp. Plates: 10 plates including 3 fold-outs Vol 3: Pages: 504 pp. Plates: 6 plates Vol 4: Pages: IV pp., 510 pp. Plates: 6 plates Vol. 5: Pages: [2] ff., 518 pp. Plates: 3 plates Vol. 6: Pages: [2] ff., 380 pp. Plates: 32 plates of which one folding and 2 on double page Vol. 7: Pages: XII pp, (III-X) pp, (3-396) pp, Plates: 33 plates Vol. 8: Pages: VIII pp, 375 pp, [1]p. Plates: 30 plates Vol. 9: Pages: XXIV pp. 470 pp. Plates: 12 plates Tronchin- Givaudan Library Assembled and preserved by several generations of the Tronchin and Givaudan families, the Tronchin-Givaudan library bears witness to a deep commitment to knowledge, historical awareness and the exceptional. The selection we have the honour of offering at auction highlights a subtle balance between erudition and the art of living. Comprising mainly works from the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, this collection covers more than five centuries of printed production, closely linked to the history of Geneva and the Tronchin family, one of the city's great patrician lineages, now extinct. A number of seventeenth-century titles hark back to the origins of this lineage, notably around the figure of Théodore Tronchin (lot 2567). However, it was in the 18th century, with the acquisition of the Bessinge estate by Jacob Tronchin in 1764, that the collection really took shape. The works, many of which bear the bookplates of Jean Armand Tronchin (1732-1813) and his son Henri (1794-1865), make up a collection faithful to the ideals of the Enlightenment, combining public law, classical humanities, science, travel accounts (lots 2471, 2479, 2554..), major works of 18th-century printing - including the plan of Paris by Turgot (lot 2591) - and rare editions bearing the royal coat of arms, such as those of Madame de Pompadour (lot 2545). At the turn of the 20th century, a new page was turned when Xavier Givaudan (1867-1966), a leading figure in the industrial boom alongside his brother Léon Givaudan (1875-1936) in the fields of synthetic perfume, chemicals and soap, established in Switzerland in 1917, acquired the estate in 1938 after renting it for several years. The library and works have been preserved and in part passed on to his descendants. His brother Léon Givaudan built up a bibliophile collection focusing on Art Deco books, bringing together works sublimated by bindings signed by the great contemporary bookbinders (lots 2606, 2626, 2648, etc.). His library was sold at auction in Paris on 3 June 1988. André Givaudan (1895-1973), Xavier Givaudan's son, also had a particular interest in literature, joining several bibliophile societies and adding a number of modern illustrated books to the collection. All the lots marked in brown in the printed catalogue come from the Tronchin-Givaudan Collection, then by descent to the current owners.