First edition of the earliest detailed account of Cochin China (primarily modern Vietnam), written by a Jesuit missionary who lived there in the years 1617 to 1622: "considered one of the best sources of information for the region" (Howgego). It covers the country's topography, climate, natural history, agriculture, trade and commerce, language, government, society, and in the second part (about half the book) religion, including the work of the Jesuit missionary. It also provides valuable information about the country's relations with Japan and China.
Borri (1583-1632) joined the Society of Jesuits in 1601 and taught astronomy at the Jesuit college in his hometown Milan. After his interest in Copernicus and Galileo led to his dismissal, he travelled to the Jesuit mission in Macau, which sent him to Indochina around 1617. He was nearly the first European to master the Vietnamese language and worked on a dictionary of the language for many years. In 1621/22 he returned to Europe and again took up his astronomical work. He is said to have drawn the first "isogonic" chart (showing the deviation of magnetic from geographic north) for the Atlantic and Indian oceans, anticipating Edmund Halley by more than seventy years, but his premature death kept him from publishing both his work on astronomy and his dictionary. He abandoned the Jesuits for the Cistercians a few months before his death. The present first edition of his account of Cochin China was followed by translations into French later the same year, Dutch in 1632 and Latin, German and English in 1633.
With an owner's inscription on the title-page in brown ink " au(?) legatum P. Virg. Spade". The binding is slightly damaged at the foot of the front board, somewhat browned throughout and with some water staining in the lower and outer margins throughout, not affecting the text. Cordier, Indosinica III, col. 1917; De Backer & Sommervogel I, col. 1821; Howgego B136; James Ford Bell Library B323; STC Italian (17th century), p. 134; cf. Ist. Cent. Cat. Unico (French ed. only).