Delle missioni de' padri della Compagnia di Giesu nella Prouincia del Giappone e particolarmente di quella di Tumkino libri cinque / del P. Gio. Filippo de Marini della medesima Compagnia ...

In Roma : Per Nicolò Angelo Tinassi, 1663.

[16], 548, [8] p., [4] h. de lám. ; 4

This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance

Italy.

FAST ACC 272052

This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. The "FAST ACC" number is a temporary call number. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance. From dealer's description:"4to, pp. [16], 548, [8]; engraved allegorical frontispiece(by A. Clowet) and 3 engraved folding plates (on Japanese paper), woodcutinitials, head- and tail-pieces; frontispiece, title and final plate mountedwith some areas of loss (not touching text of title), second leaf with marginalworming; occasional browning, a few marks and small marginal wormholes; overallgood in contemporary limp vellum, title in ink to spine; text block slightlyloose, spine ends a little worn, light staining; the frontispiece coloured inlight red, and the folding plate of the king's galley (signed Campanili, 1662)on yellow paper decorated with silver flowers. First edition, one of the very few copies (as mentioned bySommervogel) with the frontispiece in red and, most spectacularly, with thefolding plate of the king of Tonkin's galley on yellow paper decorated withsilver flowers. We have traced two copies at auction with the galley plate on redpaper, but none such as here. The other plates show the costumes of a soldierand mandarin of the king's household, and a busy street scene during a festivalwith crowds of officials and a theatre. The plates were printed on paperimported from Asia. Of Genoese origin, Marini (1608-1682) entered the Societyof Jesus in 1625 and in 1640 went to Goa as a missionary, spending the next 40years travelling extensively in Asia. After his return to Europe in the early1660s to recruit more missionaries and to represent the province of Japan atthe 11th General Congregation of the Jesuits, he published his experiences in Dellemissioni, which he dedicated to Pope Alexander VII. The first three books dealwith Tonkin; book four contains short descriptions of Cochinchina, Cambodia,Siam, Makassar, Canton and Hainan; and book five is devoted to the kingdom ofLaos. The Delle missioni contributed greatly to knowledge of the Indochineseworld and Marini was more receptive towards the cultures he encountered than,for example, his predecessor Alexandre de Rhodes. Further editions followed in1665, and a French translation in 1666. Cordier, Bibliotheca Japonica, 374-375; Sommervogel V, 582('Des exemplaires ont le frontispiece grave sur papier rouge du Japon et ladernière grande gravure, représentant le bateau du roi, sur papier jaune, avecfleurs d'argent')." Ordered from Bernard Quaritch Ltd, D9386, 2020-03-02, List 2020/3 "Travel", item #37.

272052