MARINI, Giovanni Filippo de.

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Histoire nouvelle et curieuse des royaumes de Tunquin et de Lao. First edition in French of Marini's account of his eventful extended service with the Jesuit mission in Vietnam, originally published in Italian in 1663 as part of his broader work on Jesuit activities in Asia. As well as being a keen observer, he was a natural propagandist for the Catholic cause, promising prospective missionaries that glory awaited them in the East.Marini (1608-1682) spent two years in Siam and three in Macao, before journeying in 1646 to Tonkin. He returned to Europe in 1661, "following an arduous three-year journey from the distant Jesuit College of St Paul in Macao, China... His travels had been punctuated with drama. He had suffered gruelling sea voyages, cooped up in cramped and dirty living conditions, dependent on diminishing supplies of unappetizing provisions... Blown off course from his intended destiny as missionary in Japan, he had read second hand about the fate of his confrere, Jesuit Antonio Rubino, who died a martyr on those islands, and of another colleague, Cristovão Ferreira, who faltered under torture and apostatized, renouncing his priesthood and his Christianity. Marini himself had been arrested in Tonkin under suspicion of spying, was imprisoned, threatened with execution and eventually banished as a threat to society" (Alberts, p. xiv).Among his many important observations are descriptions of ceremonies performed in Tonkin during eclipses. He records that they were seen

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