Relation de la province du Japon,

ecrite en Portugais par le Pere François Cardim de la Compagnie de IESUS, Procureur de cette province … A Tournay : De l’Imprimerie d’Adrien Quinqué, 1645. Duodecimo, contemporary calf, spine in compartments with gilt decoration and contrasting morocco title label lettered in gilt; edges stained red; marbled endpapers, front pastedown with ex libris label of H. P. Kraus; pp. [10], 308, with front and rear blank leaves; woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces; title-page with minor loss at bottom corner, otherwise excellent throughout, a fine copy.

António Francisco Cardim (Viana do Alentejo, 1596 – Macau, 1659) was a Portuguese Jesuit priest, missionary and historian who wrote several important texts on the history and activities of the Society of Jesus in Japan, China and other places in the Far East.

This is the first edition in French of his important Japan account. Yet the title is misleading, since the work is also significant for its early descriptions of Cochin-China and Siam, and has a description of St. Paul’s College in Macau, where Cardim served as rector in 1632-1636. This edition also contains Francesco Barretto’s account of the Malabar region in India (pp. 185-308), which touches on the various missions in India and Ceylon.

Cardim’s Japan account, originally written in Portuguese, was first published in Italian in 1645. This French translation was done by François Lahier, and published in the same year.

Cordier, BJ, 360; Alt-Japan-Katalog 278