L'Ambassade de la Compagnie Orientale ... de la Chine
Leiden, van Meurs. 1665
(Cordier, 2341; Lust 534; Landwehr VOC, 540)
In folio, large paper copy (37x23 cm)
XIX century vellum. Superlibris: "Victor et Fidelis"
6 nn lvs; 290pp; 134 pp
Two books in one volume, engraved frontispiece, title page in black and red lettering
Portrait (Colbert)
Folding map (China)
30 (of 31) folding plates; book two: 3 folding plates (complete) , one of them loose.
80 text engravings
Nice, extra large paper copy, washed before rebinding in the XIX century. About ten plates taken from another copy and enlarged to fit this copy. Lacks one plate Xantsui.
First French edition of the first mission by the Dutch East India Company to the Emperor of China. Important, richly illustrated information and views of XVII century China, one of the few non Jesuit contributions to the Western knowledge of that country at the time.
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Nova et succincta..historia...Regno China
Frankfurt am Main, Henning. 1589
(Cordier, 14/15; Lust 27; VD 16 G 2658)
In octavo. Book rebound in old vellum. Slight waterstain first half of the book. Small hole in title page restored. Else fine.
First edition in Latin of this instant bestseller. Mendoza was an Augustinian monk at the Rome court. Pope Gregory XIII ordered him to collect all that was known at the time about China... His work became the standard authority at the time.
It appears as one of the first general histories/descriptions of China in Cordier who mentions like 20 editions in Spanish (First, 1585), Italian; French, German and English before this 1589 Latin first edition. " The first, serious survey of China, it ran some 33 editions in Western Europe between 1585 and 1613. Its influence can be imagined" (Lust, nr 23)
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Dell historia della Chinas
Roma, Martinelli, 1586. (Cordier I, p 10; cfr Lust 23; Boxer South China in the sixteenth century). In quarto (27,5x16,5cm), (8) 380 (16) pp. Washed copy, rebound in contemporary vellum. First and last leaves with small restorations, affecting a few letters. Clean, wide margined copy.
First edition in Italian of this instant bestseller. There were three editions in Italian in 1586, one by Bartolome Grassi; one by Vicentio Pellagallo and this one by Giovanni Martinelli. " ces editions ne sont que des exemplaires du meme tirage avec des noms differents; ce qui le prouve c'est que la p 378 est dans tous cifres par erreur 578" (Cordier, I, p 10). Curiously, Lust calls the copy he has seen "in octavo" and gives a much smaller size: 18x10,5 cm). Mendoza (1545-1618) was an Augustinian monk at the court of Rome. Pope Gregory XIII ordered him to collect all that was known at the time about China. Mendoza was never in China. The work consists partly of travel accounts by Augustine and Franciscan monks. Another source as material gathered on China by father Martin de Rada in Fukien. His work became the standard authority at the time. It appears as one of the first general histories/ descriptions of China . " The first, serious survey of China, it ran some 33 editions in Western Europe between 1585 and 1613. Its influence can be imagined" (Lust, nr 23)
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