Relacam Geral do estado da Christandade de Ethiopia; Reduçam dos Scismaticos; Entrada, & Recebimé todo Patriarcha Dom Affonso Mendes; Obediencia dada polo Emperador Seltã Segued com toda sua Corte à Igreja Romana; & do que de nouo socedeo no descobriméto do Thybet, a que chamam, gram Catayo. Composta, e copiada das cartas que os Padres da Companhia de IESV, escre uéram da India Oriental dos Annos de 624. 625. & 626
THE EARLIEST WESTERN ACCOUNT OF TIBET
Veiga, Manoel da. Relacam Geral do estado da Christandade de Ethiopia; Reduçam dos Scismaticos; Entrada, & Recebimé todo Patriarcha Dom Affonso Mendes; Obediencia dada polo Emperador Seltã Segued com toda sua Corte à Igreja Romana; & do que de nouo socedeo no descobriméto do Thybet, a que chamam, gram Catayo. Composta, e copiada das cartas que os Padres da Companhia de IESV, escre uéram da India Oriental dos Annos de 624. 625. & 626. Lisbon: for Mattheus Pinheiro, 1628. First edition.
Quarto in 8s (7 ¼” x 5 3/16”, 184mm x 133mm): binder’s blank, π2 A–P8 Q4(Q4 blank), binder’s blank. 126 leaves, pp. [4] (title, blank, 2pp. copyright), foll. 1–124 [2] (2pp. blank). With woodcut initials and headpieces.
Rebacked with the original backstrip laid down. Bound in vellum with frog fasteners. On the spine, title inked in manuscript.
Binder’s blank strengthened with modern parchment. Filled worming to the lower margin of π1–A3. Worming to the inner margin from π1–C2. Dampstain to the lower corner from B1–C7. Remnants of an ownership inscription to the title page, since washed. Manuscript notes throughout and a curious — dare we say — poem to the verso of the rear binder’s blank, reading “serras trabalhozas / livras nauada / neve compaeta / braza [?]var - ferros abrazado / meter mido e Carranca doperigo.” Typed catalog slip on Japanese tissue from John Howell Books laid in.
Manoel da Veiga (1566–1647) was a Jesuit missionary in Ethiopia, and the first sections of Relacam Geraldo estado da Christandade de Ethiopia — as the title suggests — discuss the activities of the sect in the region. The Jesuits had arrived in Eastern Africa with hopes of bypassing the local clergy and converting the royal family, ultimately bringing the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church under the authority of the Pope. Their strongarming was unsuccessful in dismantling the Coptic tradition and the Jesuits were completely expelled by the 1630s, though Veiga’s text tactfully omits any hindrance that might suggest their ultimate failure.
The third book of the volume details Veiga’s pioneering journey to Tibet by way of India in the summer of 1624. He writes that Antonio de Andrade (1580–1634), a fellow Jesuit and explorer, had heard rumor of an ancient form of Christianity being practiced in the rural mountain villages of Asia. Owing to Tibet’s geographical inaccessibility, the region had developed a mythos in the Western world; Europeans frequently conflated Tibet with the Cathay empire (Veiga continues to associate the two in his text), and the region was known only as a magical and exotic “land of musk.” With God on their side, the expedition set out to uncover what branch Christian mysticism might be germinating in the Himalayas.
By Veiga’s account, the journey was arduous and unforgiving. Andrade’s eight-month journey began in Agra, where they joined the procession of the Emperor Jehangir and proceeded to Delhi under the protection of the cohort. In Delhi, the band of missionaries disguised themselves as Hindu pilgrims and joined a caravan bound for the shrine of Badrinath. The caravan followed the Ganges River to Srinagar and Garhwal, where they were eventually discovered. The Raj of Garhwal detained and interrogated the men for a week before allowing Andrade to proceed. In August, the missionaries arrived in the Kingdom of Guge to a purportedly warm welcome from the royals and received permission to establish an outpost in Tsaparang. Veiga’s depictions of the Tibetan religious groups are far favorable to those of the Coptics. He details their language, writes that they are pious, tells of monasteries, alms, and praises their plain robes and wont of contemplative chanting. The present example is thus the first European ethnographic study of not only the region but of Tibetan Buddhism — presumably the practice that Andrade had believed to be an offshoot of Christianity.
Exceedingly rare, only 3 examples of Relacam Geral do estado da Christandade de Ethiopia have come to market in the past quarter-century. The present example was previously handled by John Howell – Books of San Francisco (not to be confused with John Howell for Books of Los Angeles). The multi-generational company began in 1912, specialized in fine printing and first editions, and closed its doors in 1986. The firm’s typed cataloging notes for the volume are laid in at the rear.
Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal PURL 41768; Brunet, Supplement II, 855; Welsh (Greenlee) 5286
Cataloged by G.R. Murdock
Item #GRM0093
Price: $11,500