Bouhours - Vie de St Francois Xavier (…) apostre des Indes et du Japon - 1688

BOUHOURS, FATHER DOMINIQUE (S.J.). — THE LIFE OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER, APOSTLE OF THE INDIES AND OF JAPAN (LYON, JACQUES LIONS, 1688, 2 VOLUMES).
Lyon: Jacques Lions, 1688.
2 volumes in-12. Full contemporaneous calf, spine with raised bands ornamented.
Lyonese edition of the XVIIth century, complete in two volumes, of this monumental biography commissioned originally by Queen Anne of Austria and the Paris Jesuit milieu.
Father Bouhours, famed for the purity of his classic style and his critical clashes with the Jesuits and Jansenists, deploys a fluid prose to recount the perilous maritime journeys, the miracles attributed to the saint, and the cultural clash faced by the Society of Jesus in Southeast Asia and in the Empire of Japan in the sixteenth century.
Copy preserved in its XVIIth-century full brown mottled calf binding. Spine with raised bands and gold-tooling still legible on the compartments. Significant leather losses at the foot of both spines (loss of leather exposing the raised bands and the foot-covering on 2 to 3 cm), scuffing, cracking on the leather of the spines and minor wear to the upper edges and corners. Bindings solid in structure. Interior healthy and well-preserved on period laid paper, with only light marginal handling stains or scattered foxing without gravity.
In the XVIIth century, the narrative of François Xavier’s life was not merely devotional: it was a true adventure novel for readers of the Sun King era. One discovered with fascination the manners of the samurai of Japan, the princely courts of India, and the arduous crossing of the oceans.
Printed in Lyon on the famous Rue Mercière by the printer-bookseller Jacques Lions in 1688, this complete two-volume XVIIth-century set preserves all its period charm. Despite leather losses at the foot of the spine, it remains a captivating historical item on the history of Asian missions."} {