Rerum memorabilium in Regno Iaponiae gestarum litterae an. M.DC.XIX.XX.XXI.XXII. Societatis IESU.

Ad Rev. admodum in Christo Patrem P. Mutium Vitelleschi Praepositum Generalem eiusdem Societatis. Antwerp : Jerome Verdussen, 1625. Small octavo, contemporary limp vellum (covers slightly bowed, upper cover worn at top corner and fore-edge), spine with early manuscript title (short splits at ends); front pastedown with ex libris label of H. P. Kraus; title with woodcut Jesuit device, early ownership inscription, and old ecclesiastical collection stamp (Société des Pères de Saint-Irénée?); pp. [2], 3-136, 1-99, 200-288 [i.e. 100-188], [2 blank]; drophead titles for each of the four collections of letters (i.e. 1619, 1620, 1621, and 1622); woodcut initials; frequent browning, else internally very good.

Rare contemporary collection of accounts from the Jesuit missions in Japan, based on the Annual Letters sent to the Jesuit Superior General Mutio Vitelleschi in Rome in the years 1619-1622, during the time of persecution of Kirishitan under the early Tokigawa shogunate. Although the work is anonymous (Sommervogel suggests it was edited by F. Adrien van den Cruyce), the letters for 1619, 1620 and 1621 are translated from Relatione di alcune cose cauate dalle lettere scritte ne gli anni 1619, 1620 & 1621 dal Giappone … (Rome, 1624). The Letter for 1619 is signed: Gaspar Ludovicus; 1620: Jo. Baptista Bonellus; and 1621: Hieronymus Mayorica.

Cordier, BJ, 300; Sommervogel, II, 1699-1700; Streit, v. V, p. 483; Laures, JL-1625-KB3-365-241