Filter
    VARENIUS
    Bernhardus. Descriptio Regni Japoniae et Siam.
    VARENIUS
    Bernhardus. Descriptio Regni Japoniae et Siam.

    Lot 67. VARENIUS, Bernhardus.

    Descriptio Regni Japoniae et Siam.

    Unsold

    Descriptio Regni Japoniae et Siam. 90832
    Item de Japaniorum religione & Siamensium. De diversis omnium gentium religionibus quibus, praemissa dissertatione de variis rerum publicarum generibus, adduntur quaedam de priscorum Afrorum fide excerpta ex Leone Africano.
    Cambridge, John Hayes for Samuel Simpson. 1673

    The German geographer Bernhardus Varenius (1622-1650) originally studied mathematics and medicine at Königsburg. Inspired by travel accounts of Dutch navigators he turned to geography, and, noting that there was a distinct lack of non-Jesuitical material, he compiled this monograph on Japan. The work is divided into three parts, the first being a general description of Japan taken mostly from Caron, the second is a translation from the Dutch of Schouten being a general account of Siam, while the third part is an account of Japanese religious practices and the introduction of Christianity. He also drew from accounts by Torsellini and Marco Polo. The first edition was published in Amsterdam in 1649.

    Description

    First and only English edition. 8vo (12 x 18.5cm) [12], 292pp., title page printed in red and black, contemporary panelled calf, red morocco letering piece, lightly rubbed, a fresh clean copy.

    Provenance: 1. Manuscript inscription to front free end paper “”ex libris J (?) Doughty””; 2. Earls of Macclesfield (North Library armorial bookplate (1860); blindstamp to title).

    Bibliography

    Wing V105; Cordier, Japonica 369; Cox I, 326.