Beschreibung:

(BOUHOURS, DOMINIQUE). La vie de Saint Francois Xavier de la Compagnie de Jesus apostre des Indes et du Japon. Paris (chez Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy) 1682. Small 4:o (228x165 mm.). (16), (1)-634, (10) pp. 1 folding engraved map (partly dust-soiled, tears and discolouring along edges without pictorial loss), 2 half-page engravings, 1 engraved initial, title with woodcut printer's device Contemporary brown speckled calF, somewhat worn, gilt edges of covers, gilt spine in six compartments, some damage at head, red morocco label, redspeckled edges. Old signature on title heavily deleted, text of title underscored in pencil with paper along one line perforated. Pp. 1-2 with mended tear in inner margin. Some pages browned, some foxing and staining. A few "annotations" in ink in the margins, some inkstains. First edition. Francis Xavier (1506-1552), was a Basque Roman Catholic missionary born in Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre (now part of Spain), and a co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a companion of St. Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris in 1534. He led an extensive mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time and was influential in evangelization work most notably in India. He also ventured into Japan, Borneo, the Maluku Islands, and other areas which had, until then, not been visited by Christian missionaries. In these areas, struggling to learn the local languages and in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India. It was a goal of Xavier to extend his missionary preaching to China but he died in Shangchuan Island shortly before doing so. (Wikipedia). From the library of Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn Löwendahl (1941-2013).