[Missions]. [Indochine]. RELATION des missions des évesques - Lot 149

[Missions]. [Indochine]. RELATION des missions des évesques françois aux royaumes de Siam, de la Cochinchine, de Camboye, & du Tonkin, &c. Divided into four parts. Paris, Pierre Le Petit, Edme Couterot, Charles Angot, 1674. In-8, (16)-367-(1) p. (1) bl. f., contemporary brown calf, spine ribbed, decorated edges, speckled edges, discreet restorations (upper flyleaf glued to back cover with traces of yellowed adhesive in margin; stains p.49). Rare first edition of these important descriptions of the kingdoms of Siam, Cochinchina, Cambodia and Tonkin, drawn up between 1666 and 1671 by the missionaries Pierre Lambert de la Motte, Louis Chevreuil, Antoine Hainques and Pierre Brindeau, who belonged to the Missions étrangères de Paris, a Catholic apostolic society founded in 1663 with the aim of evangelizing non-Christian countries, particularly in Asia, by founding churches and developing a local clergy under the jurisdiction of bishops. Old handwritten bookplate "Caroline Du Luc" on the first flyleaf. (Cordier, Sinica, I, 826 ; Chadenat, n°3841 ( Relation très rare ) ; Streit V, 1797 ; Satow 46 ; Lach-Van Kley, 3, 416).