TRIGAULT (Nicolas). Histoire de l'expédition chrestienne au - Lot 226

TRIGAULT (Nicolas). Histoire de l'expédition chrestienne au royaume de la Chine entreprinse par les P. de la Compagnie de Iesus. Comprinse en cinq livres. Esquels est traicté fort exactement et fidelement des moeurs, loix et coustumes du pays, et des commencemens tres-difficiles de l'Eglise naissante en ce royaume Lyon, Horace Cardon, 1616. In-8, (40)-1096 p., 19th c. marbled havana basane, spine ribbed with gilt title (gifts soiled and rubbed, brown spots, map lacking). First edition of the French translation of this chronicle of the Jesuit fathers' heroic expedition to China, based on comments by Father Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) and by Father Nicolas Trigault. Title engraved in a rich frame, portrait of Philippe Guillaume prince d'Orange-Nassau, engraved in intaglio by Jacques Fornazeris. The plate Plan du Palais is present but very incomplete. This work can be considered a first assessment of the Jesuit fathers' activity in China, describing the mission's progress region by region and providing first-hand evidence of the late Ming dynasty. It is an important source for the study of Chinese civilization. The work first appeared in Latin in Augsburg in 1615, written by Father Nicolas Trigault (1577-1628), who translated and completed the memoirs of the famous Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610). (Cordier, Sinica I, 809; De Backer & Sommervogel VIII, 240).