Vietnam

1633 · 4531 — London: Robert Raworth for Richard Clutterbuck 1633. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Tastefully bound in ruled red morocco interior gilt dentelles; title-page dusty and trimmed at upper & outer margins; repaired corner of prelims. Otherwise very good. Rare first edition of the first book on Vietnam in English an eyewitness account of the commerce government and cultural life of Cochin-China central Vietnam written by the Jesuit missionary Cristoforo Borri and first published in Italian in 1631.Borri begins by marking the kingdom's boundaries identifying it as a narrow strip of land between Laos and the South China Sea bordered to the north by Tongking and to the south by Champa. A discussion of the kingdom's fertile land and rich natural resources follows emphasizing the abundance of fruits nuts rice fish textiles domestic stock and "all other things requisite for the entertainement of a man's life." Silk is produced in such quantities that "the baser sort of people wear it dayly." Gold and silver mines abound and "the Wood and Timber of this countrey is the best of all the world." Having piqued his readers' curiosity the author goes on to describe Cochin-China's vibrant commercial climate declaring it free of the red tape and bureaucratic hostility that so often greeted European traders in East Asia.Borri's 1631 Relazione a Jesuit missions letter directed at his Catholic superiors and lay readers was already unusual among works in its genre for devoting a substantial part exclusively to non-religious content. Ashley the translator executed further changes of his own in order to render the present work more attractive to Protestant business interests-most notably by omitting the part where Borri testified to the struggle and success of his Jesuit missions particularly the conversion of Pulucambi province. The translation also cheerfully elides two disastrous episodes in recent European trade with Cochin-China: the 1601 massacre of 23 members of an envoy from the VOC and a similar massacre in 1613 of the crew of an English trading vessel. This attempt to coax England's notoriously skittish merchants into commerce with Cochin-China is also borne out by Ashley's choice of dedicatee: Maurice Abbot the newly-elected governor of the British East India Company. According to Pollard and Redgrave the work's last signature is in 3 rather than 4 because the unsigned title-page was printed as the 4th and final leaf.Cristoforo Borri 1583-1632 a Milanese astronomer lived in Cochin-China from 1617-1622 where he learned enough of the language to hear confession. By 1633 two years after its first appearance his Relatione had been translated into French German Dutch and English. This is the first copy to appear on the market since 1988 Christie's sale of John Fleming 11.08.88.STC 1504; Lach.III v. 3 p. 1250-1266; Dror & Taylor Views of 17th C Vietnam pp. 66. Not in Löwendahl who nonetheless records translations in French German and Dutch. Robert Raworth for Richard Clutterbuck hardcover books