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Rare first and only edition of an account of a voyage to India

BORGHESI, Giovanni.
Lettera scritta da Pondisceri a' 10 di Febbraio 1704. Dal dottore Giovanni Borghesi medico della missione sepedita alla China dalla Santità di N.S. Papa Clemente XI. Nella quale si contengono, oltre a un pieno racconto del Viaggio da Roma fino alle Coste dell' Indie Orientali, varie nuove osservazioni mediche, anatomiche, bottaniche, naturali, e d'altri generi.

With folding engraved map, indicating the route to Pondicherry, a folding plate of a compass card, indicating the winds, and six small woodcuts in the text.

With folding engraved map, indicating the route to Pondicherry, a folding plate of a compass card, indicating the winds, and six small woodcuts in the text.

With folding engraved map, indicating the route to Pondicherry, a folding plate of a compass card, indicating the winds, and six small woodcuts in the text.

With folding engraved map, indicating the route to Pondicherry, a folding plate of a compass card, indicating the winds, and six small woodcuts in the text.

With folding engraved map, indicating the route to Pondicherry, a folding plate of a compass card, indicating the winds, and six small woodcuts in the text.



Rome, Gaetano degli Zenobi, 1705. 12mo. Contemporary vellum, ribbed spine with title in ink: 'Historia dela China'. With folding engraved map, indicating the route to Pondicherry, a folding plate of a compass card, indicating the winds, and six small woodcuts in the text. (XIV), 245, (17) pp.

Rare first and only edition of a very interesting account, in the form of a letter to Paolo Manfredi 'Protomedico generale dello Stato Ecclesiastico', of a voyage to India, and of the natural history, scientific and medical phenomena observed during the voyage and while in India by Giovanni Borghesi (d. in Canton, 1714). Borghesi also made numerous detailed observations on the flora and fauna he observed, as well as the different people he encountered.
The long letter was originally written in Latin and translated into Italian by Giovanni Mario de Crescimbeni (1663-1728). Borghesi was physician to the papal mission of Cardinal Carlo Tommaso Maillard de Tournon to China, sent by Pope Clement XI, in order to settle the difficulties existing among the various religious orders active in the Chinese mission, especially regarding the accusations raised against the Jesuits who allegedly had made too many concessions regarding the liturgy (the 'riti cinese').
Borghesi wrote the letter on 4 February 1704, during the sojourn the Mission spent in Pondicherry, where the mission had arrived on 6 November 1703. The account covers the period of preparation from December 1701 till the mission departed from Rome in July 1702 and the journey and stay in Pondicherry till February 1704. He also refers to the West Indies, and the American-Spanish fleet captured recently by the English in Cadix. The Mission eventually arrived in Canton in April 1705.

Good copy with ex-libris of Eduardo Obejero Urquiza and (partly erased) manuscript ownership entries on the first fly-leaf and title; among others of Antonio de Burgues and the Secretary Giovanni Baptista in Palazzo Chili.- (Some minor worm holes in the first leaves (skilfully repaired); binding somewhat soiled).
Blake p. 59; Dizionario degli Italiani 12, pp. 646-8; Olschki, Choix 13790 (lacking map); Pritzel 1008; F. Combaluzier, 'Giovanni Borghese, médecin du cardinal ... de Tournon', in: Neue Zeitschrift f. Missionswiss., 7 (1951), pp. 204-72.

Related Subjects: 18th Century  India  Mission  Travel & Voyages 

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