AVRIL (Philippe).Voyage en divers états d'Europe et d'Asie, Entreprisis pour découvrir un nouveau chemin à la Chine. Contenant Plusieurs Remarques Curieuses de Physique, de Geographie, d'Hydrographie & d'Histoire. Avec une Description de la grande Tartarie, & des differens Peuples qui l'habitent.Paris : Claude Barbin, Jean Boudot, George et Louis Josse, 1692. - In-4, 243 x178 : (10 ff.), 406 pp, (12 ff.), 1 portrait, 1 map, 3 plates. First edition dedicated to the Polish general Stanislaw Jan Jablonowski (1634-1702), of this account by the Jesuit priest and missionary Philippe Avril (1654-1698). In 1685, Avril left Marseille at the instigation of Louis XIV, with the mission of opening a land route to China as an alternative to perilous sea voyages. After crossing Asia Minor and reaching Moscow, he was categorically refused by the Russians, who feared he would interfere in their negotiations with Peking. Despite his diplomatic attempts, he had to turn back and published his Voyage en divers États d'Europe et d'Asie, in which he passionately defended the feasibility of the continental route, which was safer and faster than the sea. His account, a blend of geographical observations, travel anecdotes and political arguments, provided Europe with an unprecedented insight into regions that were little known at the time. The illustrations include an out-of-text portrait of Jablonowski engraved by Étienne Picart, a fold-out map ("De la Sibérie et du Kitray avec les différentes Routes qu'ont tenües les Moscovites, et les Tartares pour aller à la Chine"), two unsigned initials, 6 bands engraved by Vallet and 3 plates engraved by the same artist. A fine copy in contemporary binding, very well preserved despite some wear and tear and slightly dulled corners.