MARINI Jean-Ambroise Histoire nouvelle et curieuse des royaumes de Tunquin et de Lao. Contenant une description exacte de leur Origine, Grandeur & Etendü ; de leurs Richesses, & de leurs Forces ; des Moeurs, & du naturel de leurs Habitans ; de la fertilité de ces contrées, & des rivières qui les arrosent de tous costez, & de plusieurs autres circonstances utiles & necessaires pour une plus grande intelligence de la Géographie.

Cordier, B.I. p. 1046 ; Sommervogel, p. 582.

First edition. Important first hand account of this jesuit missionary priest who preached in Tonking for fourteen years.

“Father Marini’s New and Curious Relation is part of a series of descriptive paintings and travel accounts about Vietnam and its Christian communities that began at the end of the first half of the seventeenth century and continued, at varying rates, until the middle of the nineteenth century. Before him, the great precursors Giuliano Baldinotti, Christoforo Borri and Alexandre de Rhodes had already paved the way by bearing witness to what they had seen and learnt in Vietnam. At the time when he was putting together his notes, around 1660-1662, Filippo de Marini had a solid body of knowledge and impressions, anecdotes and truths, proven facts and received ideas on his desk and in the form of books that were already well known to the public and that he could not ignore.

His assertions, based on long observation and investigation, since he lived for eleven years in North Vietnam, with a few interruptions, fit into this pre-existing mould. On the other hand, and this should be borne in mind when reading them, Marini and his ilk did not write for the sole pleasure of introducing readers to a country and its inhabitants; they were in fact carrying out a proselytising mission, which followed on from their mission in the field, but which this time was aimed at European literary opinion and, even more so, at the relays of political authority in Europe.” (Nguyen Tan Hung, in : Giovanni Filippo de Marini, Relation nouvelle et curieuse, édition Ouaknine, 2013).

Good, complete copy.