Nuovi avvisi del Giapone con alcuni altri della Cina del LXXXIII, et LXXXIV. Cavati dalle lettere della Compagnia di Giesù.

Ricevute il mese di decembre prossimo passato M D LXXXV. In Venezia : appresso i Gioliti, 1586. Small octavo (160 x 105 mm), superb modern binding of panelled red calf richly gilt, spine in compartments with gilt lettering and ornament, gilt dentelles; pp. 181, [1 colophon]; title with woodcut Jesuit device, woodcut headpieces and initials, colophon with woodcut printer’s device; title with a very short tear to bottom margin, pp. 141-2 with small loss to bottom margin, occasional spotting; a fine example.

Collection of letters written in 1583-84 by Jesuit missionaries in Japan and China, which were received in Rome at the end of 1585. This Venice edition was printed in the same year as the first edition, published in Rome.

The three most substantial letters are by Luís Fróis (at Cocinozcù, 13 Feb. 1583; at Nagasaki, 2 Jan. 1584; at Nagasaki, 3 Sept. 1584). There are also shorter letters by Francesco Cabral (at Amacano, 20 Nov. 1583, and 8 Dec. 1584), Michele Ruggieri (at Sciauchino, 7 Feb. 1583; at Amacano, 25 Jan. 1584), and Matteo Ricci (at Canton, 30 Nov. 1584).

Cordier, BJ, 81; Sommervogel, II, 493