Tibet

1744 · 175883 — Madrid: Imprenta del Reyno 1744. One of three copies traced in commerce in 100 years First edition in Spanish expanded from the equally rare Italian edition of 1738 from the library of the distinguished historian-collector Sir Charles Ralph Boxer. Reporting on the 18th-century Capuchin missions to Tibet this text records some of the earliest European impressions of Tibet's cosmopolitan society and religious traditions. Members of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin travelled to Tibet in the early 18th century and had a presence in Lhasa for several extended periods over four decades until the collapse of the mission in the 1740s. Although published anonymously this report was written by Francesco Orazio della Penna 1680-1745 the leader of the mission and a skilled linguist who studied the language intensively for four years in a monastery and compiled the first Italian-Tibetan dictionary. He focuses on religious life reporting on the position and privileges of the Dalai Lama as well as on processions temples and holy law. For this edition the translator the Spanish polymath Antonio Maria Herrero added material including a report of Capuchin efforts to introduce moveable type printing in Tibetan. The type 1306 different pieces was cast in Rome and conveyed in 1741 to Lhasa where several books were successfully printed. Also of note is a reference on page 106 to Samuel van der Putte the Dutch explorer who resided in Lhasa in the 1730s and was the only lay westerner known to have been in Tibet during the 18th century. Boxer 1904-2000 "possessed an internationally known rare book collection which was seized by the Japanese in 1941 for the Imperial Library in Tokyo. After the war he was able to recover most of his books including the jewel of his collection the sixteenth-century 'Boxer codex' a manuscript with seventy-five drawings by an unknown Japanese or Chinese artist depicting the peoples of the China Sea" ODNB. He continued to add to his library and embarked on an academic career spanning two decades during which he wrote numerous works on Dutch and Portuguese maritime expansion especially in relation to East Asia. His distinctive red seal is found on the title page and his 23 December 1957 ink ownership signature is the front binder's blank. His ink notes on both binder's blanks including a reference to the sale of another copy for $250 in 1965 by the American bookdealers Lathrop Harper and the fact that the 1738 Italian edition had only 70 pages. Boxer recognized both the appeal and rarity of this edition: the Lilly library holds another example from his library perhaps that sold by Harper's. Provenance: a Maggs Brothers Bibliotheca Asiatica et Africana Part V Catalogue 521 1929 with its pencilled catalogue code "728-521" on the front free endpaper verso recorded as bound in half morocco. b Maggs Brothers Voyages and Travels Vol. 5 Part VIII Catalogue 847 1957 with its pencilled catalogue code "2715 Vol V" on the front free endpaper verso. c Bought from Maggs by C. R. Boxer with his ownership signature seal and notes. d Sotheby's "Atlases Maps Travel and Topography Natural History Science and Medicine" 8 May 1986 lot 410 sold for £2200. e Sotheby's "Atlases Travel and Natural History" 20 October 1988 lot 278 bought post-sale by Ad Orientum. Octavo 195 x 143 mm pp. iv 120. Binder's blanks after endpapers. Early 20th-century brown half morocco raised bands compartments ruled in gilt gilt devices spine lettered direct in gilt brown cloth sides boards ruled in gilt marbled endpapers edges gilt. Contents expertly cleaned most leaves with professional tissue repairs at top edge text only slightly affected: a very good copy. Cordier 2906; not in Löwendahl or Lust. hardcover