Vitelleschi Mutio (2 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. JESUIT LETTERS FROM ETHIOPIA AND AFRICA. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. pp. 133, [1], lacking last blank. Roman letter. Woodcut printer s device to title, decorated initials and ornaments. Some yellowing, intermittent small worm holes or trail to lower gutter, touching few words in places. A good copy in contemporary limp vellum, B. Juel-Jensen s bookplate in Ethiopian and early ms casemark I.C.T.h.O.43 to front pastedown. A good copy the scarce first edition of three most interesting accounts of Jesuit missions in Ethiopia, China and Vietnam with the first description in print of Tonkin, two further editions appeared in Milan and Parma the same year. These texts have survived only in their Italian translations (Backer-Sommervogel), made by Mutio Vitelleschi, (1563-1645), Sixth Superior General of the Society of Jesus, and professor of theology and philosophy at the Roman College. Dated Gongorà 1627, Pedro de Almeida s lettera annua discusses the state of the Catholic faith in 1626-7 in Ethiopia, a country ruled by a Christian emperor and the seat of several monasteries. Among the facts recounted are the Abissinians return to their Alexandrine Masses in Ethiopian despite Jesuit preaching; the building of a church in Gorgorà; how Father Fernandez, in Anfràs, translated the Catholic ritual and wrote a manual for confessors in Ethiopian; meetings with Ras Zelachristo (the emperor s brother); rituals of Abissinian monks invoking demons, and many other missionary encounters providing a priceless portrayal of early C17 Ethiopian culture in the main cities and provinces. Dated 1626, the letter of Emmanuel Diaz opens with the three new Chinese missions established that year, proceeding to a section on temporal authority in China (with a mention of the emperor s chief eunuch), and specific accounts concerning Beijing and other cities, including miracles such as the healing of a young Christian girl. Dated 1626, the last account was written by Father Baldinotti, the first missionary to visit Tonkin. It tells of his arrival aboard a Portuguese merchant ship, with the Japanese Jesuit Giulio Piani, so that Baldinotti could act as confessor and witness the state of the faith in that kingdom and whether it was ready to receive God s word . Welcomed by the king, they attended several of his feasts, with elephant tournaments and horse races; the mission was difficult to establish, because of a Moor , a spy, who showed the Christians in a bad light. The king asked Baldinotti to teach his eunuch the things of the sky , i.e., astronomy, because he was known to be a fine mathematician. A fine collection of ground-breaking accounts of early C17 Africa and Asia. Only Boston College copy recorded in the US. USTC 4002143; Cordier I, 318-9; Backer-Sommervogel I, 193:2.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. [PIRATED JESUIT ELZEVIRS] 8vo. 3 works in 1, pp. 128 (xxiv); 448 (viii); 288, without final errata as often, probably indicating first issue. Roman letter, with Italic. Separate t-p to each with woodcut vignette with St Ignatius crowned by angels. Edges a bit dusty, very minor toning, the odd spot, paper flaw to lower blank margin of N2 and small damp stain to lower blank margin of one gathering of second. Good copies in contemporary vellum, dusty, yapp edges, titles elaborately inked to spine in red and gold (oxidized) with floral decorations and IHS monogram. C18 armorial bookplate 'D. Henr. Ios. Rega. Med. Doc. Proff. Prim' and finely engraved C17 bookplate of Petrus Ludovicus Danes Casletanus to front pastedown, C19 ex-dono label of Antonius Joannes Philippus Wemaer, C19 book label 'Bib. F.F. Min. Cappuccinorum' and stamp of Capuchins' library of S. Maria Angelica in Bruges to ffep. Good copies of these forged editions of three major Jesuit works probably compiled by Mutio Vitelleschi (1563-1645). He was the Sixth Superior General of the Society of Jesus, and professor of theology, philosophy and logic at Roman Collegia. These three works gathered together important texts for the continuing education of Jesuits worldwide, as reliable, approved reference manuals. 'Directorium' is an introduction to the meaning, purpose and techniques for undertaking St Ignatius's spiritual exercises and meditation, spanning the course of a four-week retreat, on Christ's life and suffering. The 'Epistolae' is a collection of letters from major figures of the Order (St Ignatius, Aquaviva, Mercuriano, Borgia, Laines and Vitelleschi) to superiors and members on theology and the Jesuits' spiritual mission. The third work, a detailed 'Index generalis' of the 'Institutiones', reveals the original context of these works, part of a 16-volume series called 'Corpus institutionum societatis Jesu'. Separately printed, they were found as stand-alone or bound, as in this case, in a sammelband of two or three. Whilst the first edition of the 'Corpus' was published by Jan Meurs in 1635, the present copies were published two to three decades later by Jan Schipper in Amsterdam, without the license of the Society of Jesus. A distinction is the spelling 'Joannem' with a J on the t-ps of the first and second, as well as the woodcut vignette of St Ignatius with the Latin motto on all three. The pirated edition was probably intended for the Low Countries, where the Jesuits were flourishing; the early ownership of this copy can indeed be traced to Leuven. An important sammelband with editions of special bibliographical interest for Elzevir collectorsunnoticed by Willems. This volume was once in the library of Petrus Ludovicus Danes Casletanus (1683-1736), professor of theology, influenced by Scholasticism, at Leuven in the 1730s. The following owner, Henri-Joseph Rega (1690-1754), was a Dutch physician, rector at Leuven. His interest in Jesuit theology probably urged him to take sides against the spreading Jansenism, which led to a fall in student numbers. In the C19, it belonged to Antonius Joannes Philippus Wemaer, professor of Physics at Ghent, and to the convent of the Capuchins in Bruges. I) Backer-Sommervogel V, 81. Not in Willems.II) Backer-Sommervogel V, 81. Not in Willems.III) Backer-Sommervogel V, 81. Not in Willems. P. Begheyn, 'De Elzeviers en de jezuïeten', in Boekverkopers van Europa, ed. B.P.M. Dongelmans et al. (Zutphen, 2000), 59-76; L. van Miert, 'Een onopgemerkte Elzevier-druk?', Het Boek, 1923, 131-38; S. van Impe, 'Corpus institutionum societatis Jesu', in Jesuit Books in the Low Countries, 1540-1773, ed. P. Begheyn et al (Leuven, 2009).