Tre lettere annue del Giappone de gli anni 1603. 1604. 1605. e parte del 1606.

mandate dal p. Francesco Pasio v. prouinciale di quelle parti al M.R.P. Claudio Acquauiua generale della Compagnia di Giesù. Milano : appresso Pietro Martire Locarni, 1609. Duodecimo (155 x 100 mm), old half vellum over marbled papered boards, spine lettered in gilt; title with Jesuit device; pp. 313, [26 index]; decorative headpieces and initials; leaf A4 with restored bottom corner (with resultant loss of some letters at the ends of a few lines), a few leaves with pale water staining to fore-edge margins, otherwise clean and crisp throughout.

The second edition of this group of three letters sent by the Jesuit Vice-Principal in Japan, Francesco Pasio, to Claudio Acquaviva, Superior General of the Society of Jesus in Rome. The first edition had been published in Rome by Bartholomeo Zannetti in the previous year.

The letters were written in Nagasaki across the years 1603-1606, and together they comprise a detailed report on the state of the missions in Japan. The first two are by Matteo de Couros, and the last is by João Rodrigues (Giram). Both writers describe the opposition to and persecution of missionaries and converts during the early phase of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Cordier, BJ 251; De Backer/Sommervogel. II, 1579 + VI, 328, 7