RICCI, MATTEO / TRIGAULT, NICOLAS (Ed.): - Histoire de l'expedition chrestienne au royaume de la Chine entreprinse par les peres de la Compagnie de Iesus, comprinse en cinq livres, esquels est traicté fort exactement et fidelement des moeurs, loix, & coustumes du pays, & des commencemens tres-difficiles de l'Eglise naissante en ce Royaume. Lille, de l'imprimerie de Pierre de Rache, 1617.

. Small 4to. Pp. (xxiv), 423, 428-559, (5) table. Text complete. With title printed in red and black. Narrow margins. Rebound with old paper boards, new calf spine with five raised bands, decorated and lettered in gilt. Text partly browned due to the paper quality. Second French edition, translated by David Florice de Riquebourg-Trigault, nephew of Nicolas and physician to the count of Nassau. First published in Latin titled "De Christiana expeditione apud sinas suspecta ab Societate Jesu", Augsburg 1615. This important work on China is based on the journal kept by the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci during the time he served in the country (1582-1610). When Ricci arrived in 1582 in Macau, China was still closed to outsiders, but he learned the language, acquired knowledge about the country, and was able to go beyond cultural barriers which gave him entrance to the interior of country. He discovered that Chinese culture was strongly intertwined with Confucian values and therefore used existing Chinese concepts to explain Christianity. Ricci's manuscript was brought back to Europe by his successor Trigault, who translated it into Latin and also changed many passages of the journal and augmented it with information based on several Portuguese missionary reports. Cordier BS 810. Löwendahl Supplement, 1558.

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