Dios

1690 · ref. 178341 — Lisbon: Officina de Miguel Deslandes 1690. Holier than thou: Franciscan-Jesuit rivalries in East Asia First edition rare institutionally and in commerce of one of the few sources on Franciscan missionary efforts in China India and South East Asia during the 16th and 17th centuries. The politically motivated chronicle stresses the leading role of the order rather than the Jesuits in spearheading the expansion of Portuguese religious and political influence in the region. WorldCat records copies in seven locations only none of which are in Asia. "Jacinto de Deus is an important author given the limited number of works printed by the Franciscans in the East" "Brachilogia". Born in Macao in 1612 to a Portuguese father and Chinese mother Cecília da Cunha he was ordained as a Franciscan in 1630 and served for the next five decades in Madre de Deus province Goa. Vergel de plantas was completed in 1679 but only published after his death at Goa in 1681. It narrates the history of the order after its first representatives arrived in Goa in 1540 and describes the controversies surrounding the creation of Madre de Deus in particular the absorption of Franciscan custodies in Macao and Malacca into the new province's administrative and governing purview. A lengthy section representing pages 115 to 271 addresses interactions in China beginning with the abortive mission of Pedro de Alfaro to Canton in 1579 which unsuccessfully tried to challenge the Jesuit monopoly over dealings with China and exploit the governor of Guangdong's perceived openness to dealings with foreigners. The China section also draws on material from the writings of the Jesuit Gabriel de Magalhães 1610-1677 providing a description of the Chinese empire. Two copies with varying title pages are held at the Portuguese National Library and copies can also be found at the British Library Yale Harvard Indiana Minnesota and Leiden. Quarto 275 x 195 mm in sixes pp. xii 479. Ornamental woodcut initials headpieces and chalice motif on title page. Nineteenth-century calf raised bands rolled in gilt label lettered in gilt compartments double-ruled in gilt with gilt central lozenges gilt date at foot boards with scrolling panel in blind marbled endpapers edges sprinkled red. Contemporary inscription on title page "Pertence a Fr. Antonio de Nossa Senora dos septe dores" - "Belongs to Friar Antonio of our Lady of the Seven Sorrows"; bookplate and shelf ticket of António Pereira da Nóbrega de Souza da Camara 1840-1918 whose 3200-work library was auctioned in 1966. A little worming and marking to boards tidemarks and worm trails at gutter of first leaves couple of marginal losses and closed tears text unaffected: a very good copy presenting handsomely on the shelf. Cordier Indosinica 1952-3; Cordier Sinica 37-38. "Brachilogia de Princepes de Frei Jacinto de Deos" University of Macau Library available online. hardcover