VARENIUS, BERNARDUS: - Descriptio regni iaponiae cum quibusdam affinis materiae, ex variis auctoribus collecta et in ordinem redacta. Two parts in one volume. Amsterdam, Ludovicum Elzevirium, 1649.

. 16mo. Pp. (xlvi), 287, (1); (viii), 320. With engraved decorated title page and one folding table. Contemporary vellum, stained, title in manuscript on spine, old title label pasted on top. First edition of the first western monograph on Japan. It also includes a translation of part of Schouten's work on Siam. Varenius (1622-1650), a German scholar of medicine and mathematics, became fascinated with Japan and compiled this work from a variety of Dutch, Portuguese and Jesuit sources. The first part of the work contains a detailed description of Japan, including information on customs, geography, natural history, politics, costume, science, art, trade etc. The second part titled is a description of Japanese religious practices together with an account of the introduction and eventual persecution of Christianity. Varenius' work is accurate and well structured, with references to the sources he used. Cordier BJ 368. Landwehr 571. Nipponalia, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, 1976. Streit v, 1568. Willems 1095.

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