Hay - De rebus Iaponicis - 1605

Hey John

On Japanese, Indian and Peruvian matters, more recent letters

Antwerp - 1605 -
From Martin Nutij’s Office

968, (52) pages.
In 8vo - 17.5 x 12 cm.-

THE FIRST RARE EDITION OF THIS COLLECTION, CURATED BY THE SCOTTISH JESUIT JOHN HAY, OF 55 LETTERS COMING FROM JESUIT MISSIONS, MAINLY IN JAPAN, DATED BETWEEN 1577 AND 1604.

A complete copy, enriched by a splendid contemporaneous Jesuit binding, in pigskin on wooden boards, blind-stamped.

One copy of this edition, but NOT complete, is offered online at a famous Dutch bookseller for € 7,000.

The work documents the evangelization efforts and explorations in Japanese, Asian and American territory.
A fundamental primary source for understanding the cultural, social and religious impact of the Jesuit order and their direct reports on the civilizations of the period.
CORDIER, Japonica 246
DE-BACKER-SOMMERVOGEL IV, 165, 12
PALAU 112581
ALDEN 605.57

The section on Japan is the most substantial (first 636 pages) and contains letters from important Christian Japanese figures such as Michael Chijiwa Seizayemon, Sanico Nobuaki, Protasius, the Daymo of Omura and others.
A short general history of Japan is also included.

Other testimonies are documented by Frois, Cabral, Organtino and Valignano, including one of the earliest testimonies on the persecution of Christians in Japan.

Approximately 200 pages are devoted to letters from missions in India (“Mogor”), most of which were sent from Goa.
There are also shorter sections with letters from Korea, China, Peru and the Philippines.

Contains the “Ordo Epistolarum,” a 4-page appendix, very rarely present, placed after white leaf 3S4, at the end of the work (3T-3T2).

John Hay (1546-1607), expelled from Scotland in 1579, fled to France, where he became rector of the Jesuit college of Pont-à-Mousson, in Lorraine.

Beautiful contemporaneous Jesuit binding, pigskin on wooden boards, blind-stamped.
Back with 4 nerves bearing a brown leather inlay with author and title.
Missing the binding hooks.

Interior well preserved, with rather fresh and compact leaves.
Slight physiological browning.
Beautiful printer’s mark on the frontispiece, with a contemporary manuscript belonging to the top margin.
Pagination mistakes in the text, but all pages are PRESENT.
Old monastic stamp on a text sheet.
Sprinkled edges originally blue (somewhat faded).
White leaf 3S4 present.
Original flyleaves present.

Excellent and evocative copy, of these important testimonies from Japan, complete and original in every part.
COLLATED. COMPLETE