RHODES (Alexandre de). Catechismus pro iis, qui volunt susci - Lot 186

RHODES (Alexandre de). Catechismus pro iis, qui volunt suscipere baptismum, in octo dies divisus. Phép giáng tám ngáy cho ké muán chiu phép rupa toi, ma beáo dao thánh duc Chua bloi. Romæ, typis Sacrae Congregationis de propaganda fide, [1651]. In-4, 319 p. [4] f. (2 blanks, erratas), 20th c. ivory half vellum à la Bradel and corners, smooth spine, handwritten title (browned quires including title, restoration in margin p.95). Rare first edition. Catechism for Vietnamese Christians in Latin and Vietnamese (qu?c ng?), printed in two columns in Rome by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660) was admitted to the Jesuits in 1612, and set sail for the East Indies in the spring of 1619. He went first to Goa and then to Macao. Prevented from entering Japan by persecution, he was sent to Cochinchina in 1624; within a few months, he had mastered enough Annamese to preach in the language. A linguist and polyglot pedagogue, he perfected the first phonetic and romanized transcription of the Vietnamese language, and eventually gave Vietnam its own script: qu?c ng? (official national script in 1945). In addition to its linguistic interest, the present catechism, which reproduces the missionary's teaching to the Vietnamese, bears witness to the methods of Jesuit religious in the Far East. Large margins. (Sommervogel VI, 1719).