An Account of the Empire of China,
Historical, Political, Moral and Religious. A short Description of that Empire, and Notable Examples of its Emperors and Ministers. Also an ample Relation of many remarkable Passages, and Things worth observing in other Kingdoms, and several Voyages. London Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill [1732]
Second edition in English, extracted from Churchill's Voyages, folio, pp. [iv, title and preface], 380. Lacking the two plates. A very good copy in old polished calf boards, recently rebacked, end-papers and page edges comb marbled. Boards a little rubbed and scuffed, text block tight and clean. Armourial bookplate of John Waldie on rear paste-down, discreet bookbinders ticket of Robert Seton.
Morrison I, p. 551; see Cordier BS 1945; Lust 20
Domingo Fernández Navarrete (1610-1689), a Dominican friar, served as a missionary in China for many years and was much opposed to the Jesuits' accommodation to traditional Chinese customs in the notorious Rites Controversy. His book, a valued and sympathetic account of China, first appeared in Spanish in 1676 and became popular through much of Europe, especially among those hostile to the Jesuits for its explicitly anti-Jesuit arguments (see Löwendahl 165). The present abridged translation was the first published English translation, appearing in Awnsham and John Churchill's multi-volume 'Collection of voyages' (1704). The 'Collection' was several times reprinted: according to Morrison the present extract comes from the 1732 edition.