MAFFEI (Giovanni Pietro). L'histoire des Indes orientales et - Lot 138

MAFFEI (Giovanni Pietro). L'histoire des Indes orientales et occidentales. Translated from Latin into French by M.M.D.P. Paris, Robert de Ninville, 1665. 2 parts in 1 vol. In-4, (32)-353 p. + (4)-292-(24) p., table, contemporary brown calf, spine ribbed, restorations, endpapers renewed, very slight browning). First edition of the third French translation by priest and historiographer Michel de Pure (1620-80) of the great work by Italian Jesuit Giovanni Pietro Maffei (1538-1603), describing the Portuguese conquests and 16th-century Jesuit voyages to the East Indies, Persia, Japan, China, Brazil and other parts of America. The scope and quality of Michel de Pure's translation surpass a 91-page translation by Edmond Auger published in 1571, as well as a 1604 translation by François Arnault de La Borie. Comprising 16 chapters, Pure's translation is considered "a classic work on the subject [which] was a great success when it was published" (Borba de Moraes), and is particularly noteworthy for its detailed account of Brazil, as well as its description of China and Japan, including a section on Japanese tea. (De Backer Sommervogel V, 299; Sabin 43783; Palau, 146991; Brunet III, 1291; Borba de Moraes 509; Cordier, Sinica, 784; Cordier, Japonica, 66).