ROUSSEAU Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)

  2. Result
  3. ROUSSEAU Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)
  4. Lot n° 194 
Lot n° 194
Go to lot
Estimation :
6000 - 8000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 8 450EUR
ROUSSEAU Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)
AUTHORIZED MANUSCRIPT, From the gr. Tartarie of China and Japan; 12 unevenly filled pages on 10 in-4 sheets, under folder titled by Mrs. Dupin (wet). Notes on women in Tartarie, China and Japan, with corrections by Madame Dupin. These notes are related to the work on women that Rousseau undertook from 1746 to 1751 for his patron Madame Louise DUPIN de Chenonceaux (1706-1799), and which never saw the light of day. Carefully written in brown ink on the right half of the pages, with a few erasures and corrections, and on the left half a few bibliographical references, they present several interline corrections and autograph additions by Madame DUPIN, who also wrote the title on the folder . The sources indicated by Rousseau are the "Hist. Orient. Mendez Pinto", probably the Spanish translation of the travels of the Portuguese Fernão Mendes Pinto (1514-1583), Historia oriental de las peregrinaciones de Fernan Mendez Pinto (Madrid, 1620) ; the Geographical, Historical, Chronological, Political and Physical Description of the Empire of China and the Chinese Tartary (1735) by the French Jesuit Jean-Baptiste Du Halde (1674-1743); and the Natural, Civil and Ecclesiastical History of the Empire of Japan by the German Engelbert Kæmpfer (1651-1716). "In the history of the Great Tartary among the successors of Gen Ghiz Can are several Princesses who gave their husbands the title of Can. ...] The administration of goods among the Tartars is usually in the hands of the f. The h. are involved only in hunting and warfare. The f. sometimes do it too. In a battle that the Caldan Roy Tartar lost in 1696 against the Emperor of China the f. of the Caldan was killed. The Fr. du Halde translated some Tartar titles as Comtesses, but we know that these titles are not such and are not separated from certain jobs which give great power in the countries we are talking about. The same author mentions a Countess of Western Tartary, who came on the road in front of the Emperor's Envoys. She regaled these Envoys with a meal prepared in the Tartar style and offered each of them two horses, which they accepted and gave her some other present. Mrs. Dupin crossed out the end of Rousseau's page, and wrote a new conclusion in the margin: "This would naturally give rise to the idea of a f. constituted in dignity, and clothed with the authority with which one does business and the honours of a province, but this is not more clearly explained". "There have been f. on the Throne of China as Reigning Princesses, and as Usurpers, which supposes on the one hand the right to succeed; and on the other hand the power to make an injustice succeed with force"... From Halde provides some information about the Regents in China, and also about the Empresses, including the mother of Emperor Changti: "This prince excited by some courtiers wanted to raise his mother's family to high ranks. This Princess opposed it for reasons whose wisdom can be admired in these statements, it seems that on the refusal of her mother the Emperor did not dare to go beyond"... One note concerns the studies and culture of certain Chinese ladies... Anecdote about a "Chinese Amazon" at the head of an expeditionary force from the "Set-chuen province". Ms. Dupin adds: "In the province of Yunnon the f. come and go freely". Rousseau continues: "Thus in all the Provinces of China it is not also customary to bind the feet of the fathers to prevent them from walking or to lock them up in houses where they can only see through the screens of people other than their husbands...". On Japan, according to Kæmpfer: "The successors of the Fathers Emperors have retained the titles and Ecclesiastical power, so that under the name of Dayri they are like the Popes of Japan; and this dignity has remained hereditary according to degree without distinction of sex. The last of these mentioned Imperators ascended the Throne in 1630: she reigned for 14 years, after which she voluntarily resigned from the Crown in favour of her brother. [...] plrs f. of this court have distinguished themselves greatly in the Letters and in the Sciences, and have acquired great names through their works of prose and poetry".
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue