Lettere annue del Giappone dell'anno MDCXXII e della Cina del 1621 & 1622 al molto Reu. in Christo P. Mutio Vitelleschi preposito generale della Compagnia di Giesu.Roma, Francesco Corbelletti, [1627?]. 8vo. With a woodcut “IHS” Jesuit device on title-page, woodcut headpiece, tailpiece and decorated initials. 18th-century flexible boards.

312 pp.Very rare first edition of an important Jesuit report from Japan and China, written during a period when Jesuit missionaries and Japanese converts to Catholicism suffered numerous horrific martyrdoms and persecutions. It recounts in gruesome detail the martyrdoms being suffered throughout the Christian community in Japan; other subjects are briefly mentioned.The provincial Gironimo Majorica (1589-1656), born in Naples, wrote the first letter (pp. 1-158), dated from Macao, 30 September 1623. He reported on the state of the Jesuit colleges at Goa, Chaul, Tana, Bassein and elsewhere in the year 1620. In the following year he wrote a similar but briefer report that mentions the printing of Marco Giorgeo's catechism in the Kanarese language of West India. The present more extensive letter is a compendium of reports garnered from refugees and from a few letters carried by them from prisoners and those in hiding.The letter of 1622 from China (pp. 159-248), written by Nicolas Trigault from Hangchow, is full of material on the advance of the Manchus in northern China: the capture of Liaotung, the fear for the safety of Peking (Beijing), and the outbreak of local rebellions against the young Ming Emperor.This is followed by a letter (pp. 249-310) on the same subjects written by Alvarez Semedo from Nanch'ang, capital of Kiangsi province, in 1623. He reports that three million people died during these wars and that unrest was spreading throughout the country. The last leaf gives the addenda and a longer note concerning Angelo Ferrerio, referring to the reference to him on p. 32.Binding detached from bookblock, foxed throughout, but still in good condition. A very rare work on the suffering of Jesuits in China and Japan.l De Backer & Sommervogel V, 360; Lach & Van Kley, III.1. pp. 375-376 & III.4, p. 1993; Laures 376; Streit V, pp. 497-98; Cordier, Japonica, col. 293; WorldCat (1 copy: Library of Congress).