Details
FROËS, Luis (1528-1597). Jahrbrieff: auß der gewaltigen unnd weitberhümbten Insel unnd Landschafft Japon anden . . . Herrn General der Societet Jesu, den 20 Febr. anno 88, geschriben. Dilingen: Johannes Mayer, 1590.
8° (150 x 92mm). Title printed in red and black, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces. (Small light dampstain on final leaf.) Modern brown morocco, black leather lettering-piece on spine (slightly scuffed).
A RARE EARLY JESUIT RELATION IN GERMAN, giving a detailed account of events in Japan in 1588. The letter was one of several reports written from Japan by the Portuguese Jesuit Luis Froës, and was first published in Portuguese in Coimbra in 1590. An Italian edition was also published in the same year. Froës was one of the most influential Jesuit missionaries in Japan, having arrived in Omura and Miaco in 1563, and converted many Japanese priests (bonzes) to Catholicism. As a result of his successes, he was exiled to Sacoy, but in 1569 the Emperor's chief minister, Nobunanga, allowed him to return to Miaco. Finally, after several years of preaching in the province of Bungo, Froës settled in Miaco in 1581 and was given permission by Nobunanga to practise Christianity openly and even to build a church. Following the massacre of Nobunanga and many of his family in 1583, and the rise to power of the anti-Christian Fide-Josi, Froës was forced to flee to Nangazaki, where he died in 1597. Bibliographischer Alt-Japan-Katalog 1542-1853, Kyoto: 1940, no. 529 (records only one copy in Japan).
8° (150 x 92mm). Title printed in red and black, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces. (Small light dampstain on final leaf.) Modern brown morocco, black leather lettering-piece on spine (slightly scuffed).
A RARE EARLY JESUIT RELATION IN GERMAN, giving a detailed account of events in Japan in 1588. The letter was one of several reports written from Japan by the Portuguese Jesuit Luis Froës, and was first published in Portuguese in Coimbra in 1590. An Italian edition was also published in the same year. Froës was one of the most influential Jesuit missionaries in Japan, having arrived in Omura and Miaco in 1563, and converted many Japanese priests (bonzes) to Catholicism. As a result of his successes, he was exiled to Sacoy, but in 1569 the Emperor's chief minister, Nobunanga, allowed him to return to Miaco. Finally, after several years of preaching in the province of Bungo, Froës settled in Miaco in 1581 and was given permission by Nobunanga to practise Christianity openly and even to build a church. Following the massacre of Nobunanga and many of his family in 1583, and the rise to power of the anti-Christian Fide-Josi, Froës was forced to flee to Nangazaki, where he died in 1597. Bibliographischer Alt-Japan-Katalog 1542-1853, Kyoto: 1940, no. 529 (records only one copy in Japan).