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First edition in French of Kircher's popular China Illustrata (first published in Latin in Rome, 1667; folio, pp. [16], 367, [13]; added engraved title page has imprint: Amstelodami, Apud Johannem Janssonium à Waesberge et Elizeum Weyerstraet, 1667; printer's woodcut device on title page, 24 engraved plates including 2 double-page maps, numerous engraved illustrations in the text, plus miscellaneous woodcuts, woodcut ornaments, etc. throughout; lacking the portrait of Kircher, as often for this edition; full contemporary calf, gilt decorated spine in 7 compartments, morocco label in 1, sprinkled edges; the prelims and terminals a bit foxed, but the text on the whole very clean. "China Illustrata is a compilation of missionaries' notes and journals. Kircher readily acknowledges in the preface his debt to his colleagues in China and India for their information, but the book is liberally sprinkled with Kircher's own philosophy. Kircher compiled a detailed and considerably accurate account of Chinese geography, history, culture, and language, and, as his readers had learned to expect, the book is filled with delightful engravings illustrating the curious habits of the Chinese" (Merrill). Brunet III, 666-67; Cordier, Sinica 26-27; Lust, Western Books on China, 38 citing the French quarto edition of the same year; Merrill 20 (for the first edition of 1667).
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