THÉVENOT (Jean de). Relation d'un voyage fait au Levant. Paris, Thomas Jolly, 1664. - Continuation of the Voyage de Levant ... (in which) Persia is dealt with, as well as the antichities of Tchehelminar and other places towards ancient Persepolis. - Suite du voyage de Levant Seconde partie. Paris, Angot, 1674. - Voyages de M. Thevenot contenant la relation de l'Indostan, des nouveaux mongols et des autres peuples et pays des Indes. Paris, Vve Biestkins, 1684; 3 works in one vol. in-4 (220 x 166 mm) basane racinée, spine ribbed decorated with gilt motifs and fleurons (Binding c. 1800). RARE COLLECTION OF THE THÉVENOT'S THREE TRAVELS IN ORIGINAL EDITIONS. Portrait (I) and 3 plates (II). One of the precursors of the great explorations of the Levant, Thévenot made his first voyage in 1655, visiting Constantinople, the Holy Land, Egypt, the deserts of Arabia, Mecca... Barely back in Paris, he set off again for Persia, crossing Syria and Mesopotamia before finally reaching India, braving attacks from Arab and Maltese pirates and Spanish privateers. He died in Tabriz (Persia) at the age of 34, exhausted by fatigue and illness. The fine portrait after Chauveau on the frontispiece of the first book shows him in the oriental costume he had adopted for his travels. From Egypt, he had brought back coffee beans, which he treated his friends to, introducing the custom to Paris. Several pages of the first voyage are devoted to cahvé and cahvehanes (Turkish public cahvé cabarets). The third volume is complete with the Malabar Alphabet (4 pp.). A fine copy (acc. in the margin of 3 ff., with loss of some letters in the headlines; the portrait is partly detached).