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RHODES, Alexandre De [1591-1660].. Relazione De' felici successi della Santa Fede Predicata Da' Padri Della Compagnia di Giesu Nel Regno Di Tunchino, Alla Santita Di N.S. PP. Innocenzio Decimo.

small 4to. pp. 8 p.l., 326, [1 leaf]errata. double-page engraved map. woodcut printer's device on title. woodcut ornaments & initials. contemporary vellum (slight worming to lower spine, lacking front flyleaf, front hinge cracked). First Edition of the first separately published description of the whole of Vietnam, containing what appears to be the earliest detailed map of North Vietnam. It is preceded by Cristóforo Borri's Relatione della nuova missione.della Cocincina (1631), which dealt only with South Vietnam. In addition to presenting a first-hand account of missionary activity in the country from 1627 to 1646, Rhodes gives details respecting the manners and customs of the native inhabitants, politics and government, natural resources and commerce, &c. French and Latin translations were published in 1652. Rhodes, a French Jesuit, was assigned to the missions of the East Indies and spent several years in Goa, Malacca, Batavia, and Macao, before proceeding to Cochin China (South Vietnam) in 1624, where fellow Jesuits had been working since 1615. He arrived with five colleagues under the leadership of Gabriel De Matos. Within six months he had learnt Cochinchinois, invented the quoc-ngu, by which Vietnamese could be represented by Roman characters, and evangelized much of the region between the coast and the Annamese highlands. (Howgego) In 1627 he proceeded to Tongking (North Vietnam), where he met with equal success, reputedly personally converting over 6000 souls, until he was expelled in 1630. He spent the next ten years in Macao making occasional excursions into Canton. Allowed to return to South Vietnam in 1640, he was later arrested and imprisoned and again expelled, returning to Rome via Persia in 1646. He later obtained permission to establish a new mission in Persia, and there died at Ispahan in 1660. Bell R264. Brunet IV 1269. Cordier, Indosinica, 1619. cfCordier, Sinica, 2080. Graesse VI 104. De Backer & Sommervogel VI, 1718. Howgego R33-R34.

$9491 USD