Small 8vo. [10], 977 pp., + [53 Table], title printed in red & black, contemporary full calf olive green binding, stamped on the front and at the back with a fleur de lys design, title gilt on raised and decorated spine, marbled endpapers, title vignette, all edges gilt, bookplate of Merlin d’Estreux de Beaugrenier et Lefrancq verso front cover, copy in very good condition, Jean Veruliet, Valenciennes, 1611.

Synopsis

Printed copy by Guillaume de la Riviere in Arras with a bookplate engraving Valenciennes followed by a long commentary on the following fly leaf and an ex-dono inscription on title page. The rare book forms the second part of the book du Jarric begun in 1608 and completed in 1614. It covers the areas of Congo, Angola, Kingdom of Monomatapa, Ethiopia, Brazil, Hormuz and China.
The first edition appeared between 1608-1614 three parts in three volumes. Du Jarric’s historical compilation, principally an account of Jesuit missionary work in Portuguese possessions, and long regarded as EXTREMELY RARE. Sabin writes: ‘Only three complete copies of this interesting, elaborate, and valuable work appear to have occurred for sale, one of which was in the curious collection of the late Robert Lang, who had written in it, “The third volume of this work is very scarce, and although the two first volumes are found amongst collections of scarce voyages, I never saw or heard of but one other copy of the third volume, which is in the library of Lord Bute at Luton’. ABPC does not record any copy selling at auction in the past three decades. Borba de Moraes I, p. 358, noting the existence of at least one copy with a frontispiece in volume one.
Pierre du Jarric (1566 –1617) was a French Catholic missionary writer from Toulouse. He entered the Society of Jesus on 8 December 1582 and taught philosophy and moral theology at Bordeaux for many years. Although he desired to join the missionaries of his order; his wish was not fulfilled. Instead, he dedicated himself to writing on their behalf. The result was Histoire des choses plus memorables advenues tant ès Indes orientales, que autres païs de la descouverte des Portugois, which appeared in three parts: the second part appeared in 1610 and the third in 1614.
Jarric’s work gives a comprehensive picture of the missionary enterprises of the Jesuits until 1610, chiefly within the sphere of Portuguese interests. It contains much valuable data on colonial history, geography, and ethnography, taken from Spanish and Portuguese reports, and from the works of Father Luis de Guzman (Hist. de las Missiones que han hecho los religiosos de la Compañia de Jesús), and of Father Ferdinand Guerreiro (Relação Annal das cousas que fizeram os Padres da companhia de Jesus na India e Japão, Brazil, Angola, Cabo Verde, Guiné). By dedicating the second part to King Louis XIII, du Jarric hoped to encourage the French king to imitate Spain and Portugal in their colonization efforts. His work was frequently reprinted and widely circulated, particularly after Martino Martinez III translated it into Latin around 1615. Two years later, du Jarric died in Saintes.
Bibliographic references: Brunet II, 872; Cordier Sinica 771; Cordier Japonica 260-61; Graesse II, p. 444; Sabin 35790 for the first edition.