THE HISTORY OF THE GREAT AND RENOWNED MONARCHY OF CHINA: Where In All The Partic

London 1655, Crook. Recent full calf, etched folding map, 2 etched plates, 19 x 29.2 cm., lower edge of map in facsimile else clean, firm, solid, internally clean & bright,very good plus example, parts 1,2, 248p. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION . *** **** *** . . . A FABULOUS & EARLY JESUIT ACCOUNT . . . OF LIFE IN CHINA . . . A FASCINATING 1655 PRIMARY RESOURCE . *** SUBTITLE: continued: "Together with the Traffic & Commodities of that Country. Now put into English by a Person of Quality, and Illustrated with Several Maps and Figures, to Satisfy the Curious & Advance the Trade of Great Britain." . THE FIRST & BEST ENGLISH EDITION: This is the First English translation of the original Italian title Semedo wrote in 1643: RELATIONE DELLA GRANDE MONARCHIA DELLA CINA, translated into English, by "A Person of Quality." . *** WRITTEN IN "OLD" ENGLISH" These two titles were written in "Old English" of the period & commonly used "F" for "S" therefore below, we faithfully repeat the spelling on the title page, as issued. . *** THE AUTHOR: FATHER ALVAREZ F. SEMEDO, S.J. [1585/86?-1658] Semedo was a Portuguese Jesuit, and was known by variant names depending on which language was used: Álvaro de Semedo, in Latin: Alvarus de Semedo. In China he was known as Xie Wulu and later as Zeng Dezhao. He lived and worked some 20 years in China. . *** BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR: Álvaro Semedo was born in Nisa, Portugal in 1585 or 1586. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1602, and on 29 March 1608, he left for Goa and the Far East aboard Nossa Sra. do Vencimento. He arrived in Macao [Aomen] in 1610, and Nanjing in 1613. Along with another Jesuit, Alfonso Vagnoni, he was imprisoned during an anti-Christian campaign in Nanjing in 1616 and then sent back to Macao [Aomen in Chinese, a Portuguese Colony], where he stayed until 1621. . As the persecution campaign in the mainland China abated, Fr. Semedo changed his Chinese name from Xie Wulu to Zeng Dezhao and re-entered China, now working in Jiangsu and Jiangnan provinces. He spent most of his term in China in the central and southern provinces. Perhaps his only trip north was made to Xi'an in 1625, during which he was the first European to see the recently unearthed Nestorian Stele. . In 1636, Semedo went back to Europe as a procurator, sent by his Order to recruit people for the China mission and to ensure continued assistance from the church in Europe. During his sojourn in Europe, he published a long report on China, best known under its Spanish title, IMPERIO DE LA CHINA. . After his return to China, Semedo served in Guangzhou [Old Canton Guangdong] as the Vice-Provincial of the Jesuit China Mission. During several years after the fall of Beijing to the Manchus in 1644, he continued to work with the Ming loyalist regimes in the Southern China [notably, sending Michal Boym to the court of the Southern Ming Yongli Emperor], even as most of Jesuits elsewhere in China were switching their loyalty to the recently established Qing Dynasty. Once the Qing took Canton, Semedo was detained, but was freed a few months later, reportedly due to the interference of Beijing-based Johann Adam Schall von Bell. He spent the rest of his life in Guangzhou, where he died. . *** CONTENTS: Semedo arrived in China in 1613, and wrote about the general kingdom of China, based on his travels, with very lucid commentaries on the thirteen provinces, reporting on each. Chinese habits, manners, language, doctors, books, sciences, arts, civilization, games, marriage, funerals, religion, superstitions, sacrifices, military, arms, role of Tartars, Kings & Queens, nobility, government, peculiarities, Mandarin badges, law, prisons, punishments, Moors, Jews, Christians. With some good focus on preaching of the Gospel. Persecutions of Fathers [Catholics] in Nanking & Peking and other places, martyrdom of Christians. Supplement of the cruel war with the Tartars. . *** VALUABLE PRIMARY RESOURCE A nicely done early and valuable primary source and stunni.…