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First attempt for a history of the mission in Japan

MAFFEI, Giovanni Pietro.
Rerum a Societate Iesu in Oriente gestarum volumen, continens historiam iucundam lectu omnibus Christianis, praesertim ijs, quibus vera Religio est cordi. In qua videre possunt, quomodo nunquam Deus Ecclesiam suam deserat, & in locum deficientium a vera fide, innumeros alios in abditissimis etiam regionibus substituat.

With several charming woodcut initials; many woodcut Japanese characters on pp. 451-7.

With several charming woodcut initials; many woodcut Japanese characters on pp. 451-7.

With several charming woodcut initials; many woodcut Japanese characters on pp. 451-7.

With several charming woodcut initials; many woodcut Japanese characters on pp. 451-7.



Cologne, Gervinus Calenius, & haeredes Iohannis Quentel, 1574. Small 8vo. Contemporary vellum over thin boards, title in ink on spine. With several charming woodcut initials; many woodcut Japanese characters on pp. 451-7. (16), 472 pp.

With:
TORRES, Diego de. De rebus Peruanis. Antwerp, Martinus Nutius, 1604. With woodcut vignette on title. 99, (1) pp.

Two works by Jesuit authors on their missions in Japan and Peru.
Ad 1: First attempt to write a detailed history of the Jesuit missions in the East, especially in Japan. Already in the 1550's influential Jesuits argued for an official synthesis of letters from the missions, motivated by the fear that otherwise someone else would do it for them. First published in Dillingen in 1571, the work was reprinted and translated many times, and thus made a significant contribution to early European perceptions of the east. The text of the first part is based on a manuscript Historia dos missiones do Oriente até o anno de 1568 written by a Portuguese Jesuit, Manuel da Costa. Da Costa was a Jesuit missionary and bibliographer, who taught at Coimbra where most of the Jesuit letters were available in uncensored form. The manuscript was sent to Rome, translated into Latin, and was then given to the young novice Giovanni Pietro Maffei (1533-1603) to prepare it for publication. Maffei added a considerable amount of text to Acosta's work, entitled De Japonicis rebus epistolarum. This part contains abridged Latin translations of letters sent from the Jesuits working in Japan until the year 1564. In his introduction Maffei congratulates Da Costa on his effort in summarizing the contents of the letters together in a short commentary. Later Maffei wrote the very successful work Historiarum Indicarum libri XVI, much praised for its excellent treatment of Japan.
Ad 2: Collection of letters concerning the history of Peru by Diego de Torres Bollo (1550-1638). Diego de Torres Bollo was sent as a missionary to Peru, after which he returned to Rome where he published his account for the first time in Italian in 1603. After the publication of his work, he returned to America with 60 others, and established  a mission in Paraguay, which he directed as a Provincial from 1606 until 1614. Although the work was probably originally written in Spanish or Latin, it was published for the first time in Italian. This is the first Latin edition published one year after the first Italian edition. It was translated into French, German, Latin, Polish and Spanish.
Good copy.- (Back cover sl. dam; first lvs. sl. waterst.; dampst.).
Ad 1: De Backer-Sommervogel V, 295; Cordier, Japonica 60; Adams M 97; cf. Lach-Van der Kley I, p. 324; not in VD; not in Alt Japan Kat. Ad 2: Simoni T127; Sabin 96257; Alden-Landis 604/88; JCB II, p. 27-8; cf. De Backer-Sommervogel VIII, 132 (Italian first ed.); Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 1480 (French ed.).

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Japan  Jesuits  Religion 

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