MACARTNEY (George). Voyage dans l'intérieur de la Chine, et en Tartarie, fait dans les années 1792, 1793 et 1794. Paris, F. Buisson, an VI - 1798. 5 volumes in-8, shagreened calf, smooth spine decorated, daffodil edges (period binding). First French edition, translated by Jean Castéra, with all the additions from the second edition, published a year later, in a fifth volume: a Précis de l'histoire de la Chine by the translator and a translation of Johann Christian Hüttner's Voyage en Chine et en Tartarie. The work is illustrated with 3 portraits, 3 maps and 32 plates out of text engraved in intaglio by Pierre Tardieu. This is an account of the most sumptuous of the Western delegations sent to China in the 18th century, written by George Leonard Staunton from the papers of Lord Macartney, Commodore Erasmus Gower and others attached to the embassy, and originally published in English in 1797. It contains precise information on Chinese science, natural history, manners and customs. A fine copy in elegant contemporary bindings. Minor damage to two headpieces, rare foxing. Cordier, Sinica, 2384.