Original edition ” very rare “ of this mission in the Far East.
[Fermanel de Favery, Luc]. Account of the missions of the bishops French to the kingdoms of Siam, Cochinchina, Cambodia, & Tonkin, &c.
Paris, Pierre Le Petit, Edme Couterot, Charles Angot, 1674.
In-8 of (8) ff., 367 pp., (1) p., (1) blank f. Full mottled brown calf of the period, spine with raised bands adorned with gilt fleurons, decorated cuts, speckled edges. Binding of the period.
181 x 120 mm.
Rare original edition of this account of Catholic missions in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Cordier, Sinica, 826; Streit V, 1797.
“Very rare account” (Chadenat, No. 3841).
In 1658, Pope Alexander VII sent three bishops to the Far East to govern the Churches of these countries.
” They left Paris successively in 1660, 1661, & 1662. One of them died en route being alrêdy far into the Indies, & the same Pope immediately sent a power & a special order to the other two Bishops, to appoint a successor in his place, who would be chosen among among les Ecclesiastics who accompanied them.
These two Bishops qui remained advancedadvanced yet towards their Missions, & being arrived at Siam, the capital city of the kingdom of that name, they same found such a convenient le stay that they decided to establish one of their main residences, & to lay les foundations of a seminary seminary for these Churches.
La persecution advancedbeing kindled from all sides, they were forced to postpone entering in person into the places of their Missions; & mênwhile they secretly sent secretly their Ecclesiastics au to Tonkin, to Cochinchina, to Cambodia, & elsewhere, where they endêvored to cultivate the new Churches they found established there by the Jesuit Fathers Jesuits, who are the true founders, but who at that time had been banned by harsh edicts : and the continuation of thesees Ecclesiastics is the main subject of this Relation which is published to further make known more and more these important Missions, to dispel the illusions of those who talk of them as vain & chimerical, or who think that Ecclesiastics are not suited to these functions, & cannot succeed…».
” The French bishops in the East mênwhile kept the public informed about their activities in China, Indochina, and Siam through a series of published accounts. From these works, it became clêr that the French mission was becoming incrêsingly dominant in East and Southêst Asia” (Lach-Van Kley, 3, 416).
A very fresh and large-margined copy as preserved in its period binding, of this interesting travel account essential for the knowledge of the Far East in the 17th century.
