Historiarum Indicarum Libri XVI. : Selectarum item ex India epistolarum, eodem interprete, libri IV.

Accessit Ignatii Loiolae vita. Coloniæ Agippinæ [i.e. Cologne] : in Officina Birckmannica, sumptibus Arnoldi Mylii, MDXCIII. [Arnold Mylius], 1593. Folio, contemporary vellum with bevelled edges, embossed centrepiece with armorial device to both boards; spine with manuscript title; edges stained blue; title page with woodcut printer’s device; folding world map (255 x 480 mm) supplied; pp 541, [blank], [35]; woodcut initials and tail-pieces; a fine, clean copy with wide margins; housed in a custom slipcase.

The second Cologne edition of Maffei’s account of the Portuguese discoveries in the West and East Indies, and of the Jesuit missions. This edition retains the folio format of the 1588 Florence first edition, and is the only Cologne edition to contain the important world map, based on that of Ortelius published in 1570. The map, which is missing in most copies that appear for sale, was not included in the first Cologne edition of 1589, nor the Florence edition of 1588.

Maffei’s account of Japan was enthusiastically endorsed by Alessandro Valignano, in a letter sent from Macau in 1603: ‘Of all those who have so far written about Japan, none has done it with greater precision or in better order than Father G.P. Maffei.’

Cordier, Japonica, 63; de Backer-Sommervogel, V, 298; Streit, IV, p. 1070; Sabin, 43772; Alden, 593.38