Dell' Historia della China descritta dal P. M. Gio Gonzales di Mendozza dell'Ord. di S. Agost. nella lingua Spagnuola.

£5,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

This famous work was the “standard reference book on China for a century or more” (Boies Penrose). Although not quite the earliest book to be printed on China it was “the first detailed and systematic account” (Streit) and was “written in an entertaining style… [which] created a sensation in Europe” (Wagner). In fact the text became so popular that in all thirty-one editions were printed before the end of the sixteenth century. It was certainly the most influential source of its time on the countries of the East, relied on and read by most of well educated Europe. Gonzalez de Mendoza (1545-1618) first went to Mexico in 1560 when he was about fifteen, and probably entered the Augustin order in Mexico. A brief sojourn in Spain is recorded for 1573 but he soon returned to Mexico with the Commission that was sent to deliver gifts to the Chinese Emperor. This project was eventually cancelled after it was decided that the presents could not be made large enough to satisfy the cupidity of the Chinese. Mendoza compiled his work from the narratives of three expeditions. Firstly from the notes of Martin de Rada’s (or Harrada) mission undertaken in 1575 with Pedro Sarmiento, which, together with his own experiences, furnished the material for the Historia. An account of a third journey made in 1581, by Martin Ignacio de Loyola, makes up the core of the Itinererio and includes material on Japan, a first account of New Mexico and much else. Fr. Ignacio went to China via the Canaries, St.

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