De zes reizen van de heer J. Bapt. Tavernier

Author: 
Tavernier, J. B.
Publisher: 
Amsterdam: de Weduwe van Johannes van Someren
Year: 
1682

Full title

De zes reizen van de heer J. Bapt. Tavernier, baron van Aubonne: die hy, gedurende de tijt van veertig jaren, in Turkijen, Persiën, en in d'Indiën, langs alle de wegen, die derwaarts strekken, gedaan heeft.

It was translated from the French by J.H. Glazemaker. The English translation published in London in 1677 had this title:

The six voyages of John Baptista Tavernier, Baron of Aubonne through Turky, into Persia and the East-Indies, for the space of forty years: giving an account of the present state of those countries, viz. of the religion, government, customs, and commerce of every country, and the figures, weight, and value of the money currant all over Asia : to which is added A new description of the Seraglio

Leeuwenhoek referred to this book in Letter 50 of May 14, 1686.

John Baptiste Tavernier (1605 – 1689) (wikipedia)

17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Tavernier, a private individual and merchant traveling at his own expense, covered, by his own account, 60,000 leagues (120,000 miles) in making six voyages to Persia and India between the years 1630 and 1668. In 1675, Tavernier, at the behest of his patron Louis XIV, published Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. The portrait (left; click to enlarge) shows him at age 74 in 1679.

Tavernier's claim to fame today is that he brought back to France what became the Hope Diamond.