GONZALEZ de MENDOZA, Juan (1545-1618). Dell' historia della China. Venice: Andrea Muschio, 1586.
GONZALEZ de MENDOZA, Juan (1545-1618). Dell' historia della China. Venice: Andrea Muschio, 1586.
Lord Macartney’s copy of the first serious survey of China. Although Mendoza never went to China himself, he amassed a large number of reports from missionaries and had access to a collection of works in Chinese acquired by P. Martin de Rada in Fukien in 1575. His immensely successful book was first published in Spanish in Rome as Historia de las cosas mas notables... del gran reyno de la China, 1585, and the following year saw the appearance of several Italian editions, including this first Venetian printing. Adams G-868; Cordier Sinica 10-11; Löwendahl 21; Lust 23; Palau 105.504; Sabin 27779.
Octavo (145 x 97mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut head- and tail-pieces, with blanks ++8 and ff8, 3 folding engraved plates from a later work bound in (occasional light staining, title repaired just affecting last letter of imprint date). 19th-century marbled boards, titled in gilt on spine. Provenance: George, 1st Earl Macartney (1737-1806, leader of the celebrated embassy to China in 1792, bookplate).
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GONZALEZ de MENDOZA, Juan (1545-1618). Dell' historia della China. Venice: Andrea Muschio, 1586.
Lord Macartney’s copy of the first serious survey of China. Although Mendoza never went to China himself, he amassed a large number of reports from missionaries and had access to a collection of works in Chinese acquired by P. Martin de Rada in Fukien in 1575. His immensely successful book was first published in Spanish in Rome as Historia de las cosas mas notables... del gran reyno de la China, 1585, and the following year saw the appearance of several Italian editions, including this first Venetian printing. Adams G-868; Cordier Sinica 10-11; Löwendahl 21; Lust 23; Palau 105.504; Sabin 27779.
Octavo (145 x 97mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut head- and tail-pieces, with blanks ++8 and ff8, 3 folding engraved plates from a later work bound in (occasional light staining, title repaired just affecting last letter of imprint date). 19th-century marbled boards, titled in gilt on spine. Provenance: George, 1st Earl Macartney (1737-1806, leader of the celebrated embassy to China in 1792, bookplate).
Special Notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
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