Raguagli d'alcune missioni fatte dalli padri della Compagnia di Gesù nell'Indie orientali, cioè nelle provincie di Goa, e Coccinno, e nell'Africa in capo verde

8vo (159x98 mm). 165, [3 blank] pp. Collation: A-K⁸ L⁴. Leaf L4 is a blank. Jesuits' emblem on title page. Decorated woodcut initials and tailpieces. Later stiff vellum, red edges (front panel stained). Ownership entry partly trimmed on title page, slightly browned throughout, a good copy.

First edition of this Jesuit collection, often attributed to Father Jerome Xavier (1549-1617), two of whose letters are included here, the first from Goa (undated) and the second dated 11 April 1611. Grand nephew of St Francis Xavier, Jerome Xavier served as rector and teacher in Cochin and Goa, India. Another edition was printed in the same year in Naples by Lazaro Scoriggio.

The work is a collection of reports in Italian about the Jesuit missions in the East Indies, Goa, Cochin China and Africa. Beside the brief preface from the printer and the two above-mentioned Father Xavier's letters, the book contains various reports from the Mughal Empire, from Monopotapa in South Africa, from the Cape Verde islands off the coast of West Africa, from Madura in Indonesia, Cochin in southwest India, from the Malabar region (south-west India), and from the Maluku Islands in Indonesia.

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\IEIE\006186; De Backer-Sommervogel, VIII, 1337; Streit, V, 190.

[10840]