China monumentis qua sacris quà profanis, nec non variis naturae & artis spectaculis aliarumque rerum memorabilium argumentis illustrata [...].

Folio: [16, engr. title incl.]-237-[11] pp.; 26 pl. (foxing, damp stain to upper margins, some ff. sl. age-toned, tears to 2nd fold. pl., one strengthened, marg. tear to p. 205 without loss).

19th-c. light brown morocco, blind-ruled covers with on a side an orn. roll-stamp, blind-ruled spine with raised bands (front cover detached, sl. rubbed).

First edition of the monumental work on China by the German Jesuit scholar Kircher (1602-1680), an important source on early western sinology up until today. Engr. ill.: title, portrait of Kircher, 4 fold. plates (incl. 2 maps of China and Asia), 21 plates and 60 half-page ill. depicting Oriental script specimina (Chinese, Syriac), gods, dresses, animals, etc. This work renders the first publication of the original Chinese and Syriac text of the Nestorian stele that had been unearthed between 1623 and 1625; the consecutive chapters deal with the journeys undertaken in China, with parallels between Western, Indian, Chinese and Japanese idolatry, with fauna, flora, architecture and mechanical arts, as well as with the Chinese script. Jesuit device on title.
Ref. Cordier, Sinica, 26. - DBS I:1063-1064. - Tiele 601. - Lipperheide 1511. - Not in Colas.
Prov. Robert Jocelyn (1788-1870), Earl of Roden, Irish Tory politician and supporter of Protestant causes (armorial bookpl.). - Robert B. & Marian S. Honeyman (bookpl.).