JAPAN - JESUITS


TRIGAULT (NICOLAS) Rei christianae apud Japonios commentarius, ex litteris annuis Societatis Jesu annorum 1609. 1610. 1611. 1612 collectus, FIRST EDITION, woodcut ornament on title, head- and tailpieces, without 3 blanks (of 4 called for), pp.31/2 misbound, short tear to pp.89/90, some light dampstains, full-page woodcut Jesuit device on verso of colophon, modern vellum [Cordier Japonica 272], 8vo, Augsburg, Christoph Mang, 1615
|FIRST EDITION OF AN IMPORTANT ACCOUNT OF THE JESUIT MISSIONS IN JAPAN during the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate. Edited by Nicolas Trigault, recently returned from two years at the Jesuit mission in China, Rei christianae was based on the letters sent from Japan by João Rodrigues Girão, a Portuguese Jesuit who first travelled to Japan in 1583. The letters provide an eye-witness report on the political and religious climate in the country between 1609 and 1612, in addition to information on the geography, trade, economy and inhabitants of the country. Rare, only one copy noted ABPC in the past thirty years. See illustration on preceding page.