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GONZALES DE MENDOZA, Juan (1545-1618). Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China ... Con un itinerario del nuevo mundo. Rome: Vincentio Accolti, 1585. 8° (147 x 100mm). Woodcut device on title. (Without blank 2\kp\K8, stain to \kp\K2 with some loss, small repair to A1 and some other leaves, some leaves closely shaved at upper margin.) Red morocco by Brugalla, 1957, gilt supralibros, gilt spine-lettering, turn-ins and edges. Provenance: purchased from Magín Creus, 1954.
FIRST EDITION OF 'THE FIRST EUROPEAN BOOK IN WHICH CHINESE CHARACTERS OCCUR' (Sabin). The first major survey of China which ran to some 33 editions between 1585 and 1613, though in fact Mendoza was never himself in China. In 1562 Mendoza sailed for Mexico where he amassed quantities of original reports from the Augustinian and Franciscan missionaries to the Philippines and China on the economics, politics and customs. He also had access to a collection of works in Chinese acquired by P. Martìn de Rada in Fukien in 1575. The work includes details of Tordesillas' voyage from Manila to China, the first Franciscan mission to China in 1579 and the account of the Canary Islands, Santo Domingo, the Philippines, Japan, Malacca and Coromandel, along with Loyola's account of the discovery of New Mexico by Antonio d'Espejo which was never published separately. Cordier Sinica I: 8; Sabin 27775; Salvá 3330: 'mui rara'; Palau VI, 105495.
FIRST EDITION OF 'THE FIRST EUROPEAN BOOK IN WHICH CHINESE CHARACTERS OCCUR' (Sabin). The first major survey of China which ran to some 33 editions between 1585 and 1613, though in fact Mendoza was never himself in China. In 1562 Mendoza sailed for Mexico where he amassed quantities of original reports from the Augustinian and Franciscan missionaries to the Philippines and China on the economics, politics and customs. He also had access to a collection of works in Chinese acquired by P. Martìn de Rada in Fukien in 1575. The work includes details of Tordesillas' voyage from Manila to China, the first Franciscan mission to China in 1579 and the account of the Canary Islands, Santo Domingo, the Philippines, Japan, Malacca and Coromandel, along with Loyola's account of the discovery of New Mexico by Antonio d'Espejo which was never published separately. Cordier Sinica I: 8; Sabin 27775; Salvá 3330: 'mui rara'; Palau VI, 105495.