Ricci and Trigault, De Christiana expeditione ad Sinas, Lyon, 1616, contemporary vellum gilt

Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault

De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Iesu... libri V... in quibus Sinensis Regni mores, leges atque instituta, & novae illius Ecclesiae difficillima prmordia accurate & summa fide describuntur. Lyon: (Jean Jullieron for) Horace Cardon, 1616

4to (197 x 145mm.), engraved title-page including a map of China, woodcut initials and headpieces, folding letterpress plate with woodcut diagram, with final blank leaf, contemporary limp vellum gilt, final quire almost detached, a few small stains, lower hinge broken, some gilding on lower cover rubbed away, lacking two pairs of ties

First published in Augsburg in 1615, Ricci's account (as edited by Trigault) of China was quickly reprinted across Europe and translated into numerous European languages; this is the second edition of the Latin translation. Ricci was one of the Jesuit missionaries to China in the late sixteenth century, who sought to learn the language and customs and political structures in order to make their mission more acceptable; his account of China was the first European narrative since Marco Polo.