De Rebus Japonicis
First edition of this important work on Jesuit missions in India, China, Japan, and Peru at the end of the 16th century.
Copy preserved in its contemporary vellum.
Octavo, 968 pp., (23) ff. of table, (1) blank leaf, (2) ff., 152 pp., (6) ff. of table. Contemporary vellum stained, traces of ties.
166 x 109 mm.
Hay, John. De Rebus Japonicis, Indicis et Peruanis epistolae rencentiores.Martinus Nuntius, Antwerp, 1605.
Followed by: Maffei, Giovanni Pietro. Ignatii Loiolae vita, postremo recognita.Martinus Nuntius, Antwerp, 1605.
Contemporary binding.
First edition of this important work on Jesuit missions in China, Japan, Korea, and Peru in the 17th century.
This very rare and highly sought-after compilation brings together 55 letters written between 1577 and 1601.
It is followed by the life of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, by Maffei.
Cordier, Bibliotheca japonica, pp.246-247; Ternaux-Compans, 931; Carayon, 760, 1242 and 2121; Graesse III, 224; De Backer-Sommervogel IV, 165, 12 and V, 296; C. P. Thunberg Langlès, Voyages de C. P. Thunberg au Japon, II, p.513; Alden 605/57; Cordier, BJ, 246-248; Streit, V, 58; Laures, 271; Takahashi, I, 17; Palau, 112.581; Medina, II, 498.
"This voluminous collection contains useful fragments for the political history of India and Japan."
(C. P. Thunberg, Langlès).
"Some information given there by the author is not found elsewhere" (S. Neill).
Listed by Cordier and compiled by the Scottish Jesuit John Hay (1546-1607), these missives deal with Jesuit missions in Japan and China at the end of the 16th century.
A significant portion of the work is devoted to Korea.
In a letter dated 1592 and written in Nagasaki, the Jesuit missionary Froes provides details about Hideyoshi’s campaign against Korea.
In another letter dated June 6, 1577 and written in Bonga, Ludovic Froes presents a general history of Japan.
A Scottish Jesuit, John Hay (1546-1607) was banished from his country in 1579 and became rector of the Jesuit college of Pont-à-Mousson in France.
The history of Jesuit missions in Asia and South America in the 17th century gives us daily life in great detail. Missionaries were required to report on the countries they evangelized:
Geography, history, morals and customs, religions and governments—all had to be described and analyzed precisely. In the society of the Ancien Régime, where information circulated little, it was a rare opportunity to receive a letter from Asia or America. The superiors in Paris quickly understood the value of publishing these exotic accounts, which delighted the literate public.
They published in volumes the reports sent to the mother house. The progress of the mission, new conversions, and acts of holiness had to be demonstrated.
Moreover, these Letters, with their exoticism, catered to the curiosities of the Age of Enlightenment—those of scholars, philosophers, and travelers drawn to the picturesque.
In these Letters, one witnesses the arrival of the missionary from Europe to Asia or South America.
The Letters, with their epic aspect, resemble adventure novels.
In order to bring to Europe knowledge that would contribute "to the progress of the sciences or the improvement of the arts," the Jesuits amassed extensive documentation on the fauna, flora, natural sciences, geography, and the customs of the inhabitants of the countries they sought to evangelize. (J.L. and I. Vissière, Lettres édifiantes et curieuses).
The collection is followed by the life of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, by Maffei.
"Giovanni Pietro Maffei (1535–1603) is one of the finest writers among the Jesuits.
Maffei’s works are written with remarkable simplicity and naturalness" (Michaud).
