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The most complete edition of this celebrated work on 'the Indies', esp. on Brazil and Japan
MAFFEI, Joan Petri.Historiarum Indicarum Libri XVI. Selectarum, item, ex India epistolarum libri IV. Accessit liber recentiorum epistolarum; à Ioanne Hayo ...   Antwerp, Ex officina Martini Nutij, 1605. 8vo. Contemporary overlapping vellum with ink lettering on spine and small gilt stamp of a rooster in centre of covers, rests of ties. Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut initials. (72), 478, (2, blank); 401, (7) pp. Early seventeenth-century edition of this classic work on 'the Indies', including both the West and East Indies, and considered to be the best (Sabin) and the most complete (Borba de Moraes) of the many Latin editions, the first of which was published in Florence in 1588 by Phil. Iuncta and shortly thereafter reissued at Venice. The history almost immediately became very popular as it hit the market when curiosity about the Far East was at its height, and was repeatedly published in Latin and translated into Italian and French. In 1603, the Jesuit Visitor (Valignano) wrote from Macao: 'Of all those who have so far written about Japan, none has done it with greater precision or in better order than father G.P. Maffei'. Besides providing a systematic history of the missions, Maffei's work laid to rest many of the accusations that were then being made about the falsities and exaggerations being spread by the letterbooks. Giovanni Pietro Maffei (1536-1603), a skilled Latinist and Humanist who had entered the Jesuit Society in 1565, compiled this history of the Indies over a period of twelve years, spending this time in Lisbon assembling his material. It is a classic on the subject, of great interest for the early history of both the East- and the West-Indies, and is still of value for its accuracy. Most of Maffei's work is concerned with the Portuguese conquests and the Jesuit stations in India, the East Indies, and the region of the Arabian Sea to about 1557. The first five books appear to follow rather closely the model of Barros. Book VI, dealing with China like Book XII, which is mainly concerned with Japan, is heavily indebted to Valignano's account of those countries. The second part consists of: - pp. 1-202: a selection of ca. 40 letters written by Jesuit missionaries as Franciscus Xavier, Eduardus Silvius, Melchior Nonnius and Gaspar Vilela, covering a period between 1549 and 1573. These letters are important documents in the early phase of Western involvement in Japan, providing the first reliable reports about its political, cultural and geographical situation. - pp. 203-13: two letters by Petrus Diazius and Franciscus Henrici (1570-1) on the martyrdom of 52 Jesuits sailing to Brazil. - pp. 214-70: Maffei's translation into Latin of Emanuel Acosta's history of the Jesuits in the East till 1568. - pp. 271-359: a selection of letters on the Jesuit affairs in Japan, with the half-title: 'De Japonicis rebus epistolae, intermissae, quarum lectio Christano lectori mirifice placebit'. - pp. 360-401: another selection with the half-title: 'De rebus Indicis epistolae, in editione Veneta praetermissae': seven letters from 1569-70. The work by John Hay (1546-1618), De rebus Japonicis, Indicis, et Peruanis Epistolae recentiores, called for on the title, is not present as with the most copies. It has its own title-page and was issued (also) separately. Good copy.- (Some quires a bit browned, title-page somewhat frayed).
Sabin 43773 ('The best of the various editions in Latin, see Ternaud, p. 39'); De Backer/Sommervogel V, col. 298; Cordier, Japonica, col. 64; Alt Japan Kat. 916; Borba de Moraes, p. 509 ('... M. writes extensively about Brazil describing it very accurately'); Lach I, pp. 325-6.
Related Subjects: America [South] Asia Brazil East Indies History Japan Jesuits West Indies Add to Shopping cart |
€ 6.500,00
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All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are nett and in (€) EURO. VAT/BTW, postage, and insurance are not included.
Free shipping for orders over € 2,500. EU customers: if applicable, please quote your VAT number when placing orders.
Preferred mode of payment: by credit card through our secure online payment service, which is facilitated by Ogone. If you wish to make other arrangements, please contact us. Terms of sale
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