Asia (lots 175-202)
ATHANASIUS KIRCHER (1602-1680)
Details
ATHANASIUS KIRCHER (1602-1680)
China monumentis, qua sacris qua profanis, nec non variis naturae & artis spectaculis. Amsterdam: Joannem Janssonium, 1667. 2° (354 x 240mm). Frontispiece, vignette on title, 2 portraits, 2 folding maps, 7 (of 8) tables, 14 plates, one folding, and 59 illustrations, all engraved. (Lacking one engraved table, occasional browning and spotting, wormholes to first 2 leaves, one plate detached with extensive clean tear, one plate with marginal clean tear.) Contemporary vellum (some staining, extremities rubbed and spine heavily chipped). Provenance: the discalced Augustinian monastery of St Nicholas of Tolentino, Rome (contemporary ink inscription to title) -- Nicolas Augustinus à Santa Monica, a discalced Augustinian friar (18th-century ownership inscription to title).
FIRST EDITION of a richly illustrated account on China published in Latin in 1667, in German in 1668, and in French two years later. The text is based on descriptions by European explorers, many of them Jesuits as Kircher himself, in China, India, and other Asian countries. The engravings were based on explorers' sketches and original images imported from Asia. Honeyman V, 1824; Caillet 5773; Brunet III, 666.
China monumentis, qua sacris qua profanis, nec non variis naturae & artis spectaculis. Amsterdam: Joannem Janssonium, 1667. 2° (354 x 240mm). Frontispiece, vignette on title, 2 portraits, 2 folding maps, 7 (of 8) tables, 14 plates, one folding, and 59 illustrations, all engraved. (Lacking one engraved table, occasional browning and spotting, wormholes to first 2 leaves, one plate detached with extensive clean tear, one plate with marginal clean tear.) Contemporary vellum (some staining, extremities rubbed and spine heavily chipped). Provenance: the discalced Augustinian monastery of St Nicholas of Tolentino, Rome (contemporary ink inscription to title) -- Nicolas Augustinus à Santa Monica, a discalced Augustinian friar (18th-century ownership inscription to title).
FIRST EDITION of a richly illustrated account on China published in Latin in 1667, in German in 1668, and in French two years later. The text is based on descriptions by European explorers, many of them Jesuits as Kircher himself, in China, India, and other Asian countries. The engravings were based on explorers' sketches and original images imported from Asia. Honeyman V, 1824; Caillet 5773; Brunet III, 666.