This book poses the question: before the Enlightenment, and before the imperialism of the later 18th century, how did European readers find out about the varied cultures of Asia? The book presents a history of Oriental studies in 17th-century France (c.1643–1715), mapping the place within the intellectual culture of the period that was given to studies of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Chinese texts, as well as writings on Mughal India. The Orientalist writers studied here, such as Melchisédech Thévenot, François Bernier, and Barthélemy D'Herbelot, produced books that would become the sources u ... More

This book poses the question: before the Enlightenment, and before the imperialism of the later 18th century, how did European readers find out about the varied cultures of Asia? The book presents a history of Oriental studies in 17th-century France (c.1643–1715), mapping the place within the intellectual culture of the period that was given to studies of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Chinese texts, as well as writings on Mughal India. The Orientalist writers studied here, such as Melchisédech Thévenot, François Bernier, and Barthélemy D'Herbelot, produced books that would become the sources used throughout the 18th century. They are here placed in their own context as members of the ‘republic of letters’ in the age of the scientific revolution and the early Enlightenment.