Modern half leather folding box.
by Cordes, Etienne Jean Paul Clement, Lieutenant Captaine (1839-1904)
Modern half leather folding box.. Very good; not bound. 4to (sheet size 10 x 11 inches), individual fascicles comprising appx. 1240 pages of closely written text (in a clear hand) that are illustrated with appx. 40 individual ink drawings and a hand drawn map. The text is in French. Apparently not published in any form.
A manuscript kept by lieutenant E J Cordes in the French Navy on board the Corréze and the Javeline (gun boats) supervising the waterways of Cochinchina (mainly Cambodia and Vietnam) during two years of service from 1879 to 1881. There are approximately 40 pen & ink drawings illustrating the text (several full-page), most notably a series of sketches of temples, pavilions and statues at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. The manuscript is prefaced by a detailed 4-page autograph letter dated 21 June 1884, signed by Cordes to a prospective publisher which outlines the contents of the manuscript, the form of publication he envisages, even outlining the number of volumes he foresees in the finished work. Indeed, this manuscript does appear to have been once in an editor's hands, albeit briefly - a number of early leaves are blue-lined and contain some editorial remarks, amendments, and redactions, but these occur in only the first 100 pages or so. One must assume that the project was deemed too costly to produce, and indeed I have found no evidence of any part of it having been published.The manuscript includes a detailed, but confusing, table of contents consisting of a "descriptive correspondence" and an "intimate correspondence" which makes the collation of the two somewhat confusing in early parts where an editor's hand has been at play. The manuscript has been arranged in "cahiers" (i.e. fascicles) numbered 1-287, all of which are present. Due to some marginal creasing and tears, and Cordes' penchant for writing into the margins, a number of words have obviously been lost but in most all respects the sense remains clear.The basic itinerary has Cordes leaving from Toulon on 20 January 1879, aboard the Corrèze, and ends at Châu Dôc, in the Mekong Delta more than two years later, on 28 February, 1881. The voyage out takes him through the Mediterranean Sea via Isle d'Hyères, Corsica, and Sardinia to Egypt, Port Said, the Suez Canal in the Red Sea, then from Aden to Ceylon, through the Straits of Malacca to Singapore and Sumatra. The voyage out occupies approximately 80 pages; the balance is concentrated on Cambodia and Vietnam: i.e.: Saigon, Mytho, Dinh, Bien Hoa, Gocoug, Chau-Doc, Vinh-Long, Sa-Dec, Long-Xuyen, Can-Tho, Tay Ninh, Phnom Penh, Tra-Vinh, Co-Chien, Siem Reap, Grand Vaico, Cai Lai, Tra Vinh, My-Tho, Long-Phu, Angkor, Ban-Tre, Phnom-Baké and others, with much time spent, obviously, on the rivers and waterways of the region, including the Mekong and the Tonlé Sap. Based on their time in Saigon this seems to be the home base.The author writes very clearly and delivers his impressions and observations rather beautifully, as he gives some glimpses of the life of both the natives and the colonists, the food, costume, customs, weather, the countryside, river craft and river culture. His four trips into Cambodia, what with their series of pen and ink sketches and the unusual architecture, are among the most impressive parts of the manuscript. Thus, in Angkor Thom: "All around, marvelously chiseled foundations, cornices, medallions as beautiful as those of Angkor Wat, but more degraded and sad to see by the light of our torches. Above our heads a high vault in which we find the bawling of the bats and where we see cracks, crevasses, with a piece of blue sky glimpsed through some root or some branch of liana lit by a ray of sun. We walk, we always walk, groping, with a thousand precautions, lowering the torches to see the projection of the blocks, taking the pace one behind the other, blowing no word and we arrive at the other end of this gallery which had to be formerly of great splendor. ...In a last effort, we set foot on a vast platform relatively clear of trees and lianas, perfectly flat, where the sun plays and where awaits us the most extraordinary spectacle, the most unheard of, the more unexpected, the most splendid, the strangest it is possible to imagine...From the platform arise the towers, some large, others small, quite similar to each other carrying, in cameo, and looking at the four cardinal points, large figures carved from three to four meters height. Brahma's heads, with their mysterious glances, embedded in the tower like precious stones in a goldsmith's piece, are fantastic, like a fairy-tale decoration, something dreamed of in a hallucination but unsuitable for Reality, impossible and real...." The outpost of Saigon is described. Being the seat of local government inspires Cordes to reflect on the nature of French administration and how it differs from the English and Spanish colonial governments. There is an interesting description of the new, modern city of Saigon that is un-populated as juxtaposed to an outlying area known as Cholon that is a buzzing hub of commerce and industry inhabited by thirty thousand people. The 1240 page manuscript is brimming with details, and impressions of the country. At points it is difficult to identify locations because of changes in nomenclature of modern maps of the area. The authors narrative, however, carries the reader along. (Inventory #: 18070)
A manuscript kept by lieutenant E J Cordes in the French Navy on board the Corréze and the Javeline (gun boats) supervising the waterways of Cochinchina (mainly Cambodia and Vietnam) during two years of service from 1879 to 1881. There are approximately 40 pen & ink drawings illustrating the text (several full-page), most notably a series of sketches of temples, pavilions and statues at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. The manuscript is prefaced by a detailed 4-page autograph letter dated 21 June 1884, signed by Cordes to a prospective publisher which outlines the contents of the manuscript, the form of publication he envisages, even outlining the number of volumes he foresees in the finished work. Indeed, this manuscript does appear to have been once in an editor's hands, albeit briefly - a number of early leaves are blue-lined and contain some editorial remarks, amendments, and redactions, but these occur in only the first 100 pages or so. One must assume that the project was deemed too costly to produce, and indeed I have found no evidence of any part of it having been published.The manuscript includes a detailed, but confusing, table of contents consisting of a "descriptive correspondence" and an "intimate correspondence" which makes the collation of the two somewhat confusing in early parts where an editor's hand has been at play. The manuscript has been arranged in "cahiers" (i.e. fascicles) numbered 1-287, all of which are present. Due to some marginal creasing and tears, and Cordes' penchant for writing into the margins, a number of words have obviously been lost but in most all respects the sense remains clear.The basic itinerary has Cordes leaving from Toulon on 20 January 1879, aboard the Corrèze, and ends at Châu Dôc, in the Mekong Delta more than two years later, on 28 February, 1881. The voyage out takes him through the Mediterranean Sea via Isle d'Hyères, Corsica, and Sardinia to Egypt, Port Said, the Suez Canal in the Red Sea, then from Aden to Ceylon, through the Straits of Malacca to Singapore and Sumatra. The voyage out occupies approximately 80 pages; the balance is concentrated on Cambodia and Vietnam: i.e.: Saigon, Mytho, Dinh, Bien Hoa, Gocoug, Chau-Doc, Vinh-Long, Sa-Dec, Long-Xuyen, Can-Tho, Tay Ninh, Phnom Penh, Tra-Vinh, Co-Chien, Siem Reap, Grand Vaico, Cai Lai, Tra Vinh, My-Tho, Long-Phu, Angkor, Ban-Tre, Phnom-Baké and others, with much time spent, obviously, on the rivers and waterways of the region, including the Mekong and the Tonlé Sap. Based on their time in Saigon this seems to be the home base.The author writes very clearly and delivers his impressions and observations rather beautifully, as he gives some glimpses of the life of both the natives and the colonists, the food, costume, customs, weather, the countryside, river craft and river culture. His four trips into Cambodia, what with their series of pen and ink sketches and the unusual architecture, are among the most impressive parts of the manuscript. Thus, in Angkor Thom: "All around, marvelously chiseled foundations, cornices, medallions as beautiful as those of Angkor Wat, but more degraded and sad to see by the light of our torches. Above our heads a high vault in which we find the bawling of the bats and where we see cracks, crevasses, with a piece of blue sky glimpsed through some root or some branch of liana lit by a ray of sun. We walk, we always walk, groping, with a thousand precautions, lowering the torches to see the projection of the blocks, taking the pace one behind the other, blowing no word and we arrive at the other end of this gallery which had to be formerly of great splendor. ...In a last effort, we set foot on a vast platform relatively clear of trees and lianas, perfectly flat, where the sun plays and where awaits us the most extraordinary spectacle, the most unheard of, the more unexpected, the most splendid, the strangest it is possible to imagine...From the platform arise the towers, some large, others small, quite similar to each other carrying, in cameo, and looking at the four cardinal points, large figures carved from three to four meters height. Brahma's heads, with their mysterious glances, embedded in the tower like precious stones in a goldsmith's piece, are fantastic, like a fairy-tale decoration, something dreamed of in a hallucination but unsuitable for Reality, impossible and real...." The outpost of Saigon is described. Being the seat of local government inspires Cordes to reflect on the nature of French administration and how it differs from the English and Spanish colonial governments. There is an interesting description of the new, modern city of Saigon that is un-populated as juxtaposed to an outlying area known as Cholon that is a buzzing hub of commerce and industry inhabited by thirty thousand people. The 1240 page manuscript is brimming with details, and impressions of the country. At points it is difficult to identify locations because of changes in nomenclature of modern maps of the area. The authors narrative, however, carries the reader along. (Inventory #: 18070)