Istoria delle cose operate nella China da monsignor Gio. Ambrogio Mezzabarba partriarca d'Alessandria, legato appostolico in quell' imperio. Edizione seconda.

Colonia, appresso Enrico Aertssens, 1740.Sm.8vo. Contemporary vellum, with autograph title to spine. Title-page printed in red and black, with woodcut vignette. XV,256 pp.Second edition; the first edition was published in Paris in 1739. - Account of the legation trying to improve the relations between the Jesuits and the Catholic Church with the Chinese Emperor Kang-Hsi. 'In 1720, Clement XI, wishing to alleviate the hardships of the Church in China, despatched to the East a new legate, G.A. Mezzabarba, Patriarch of Alexandria. On October 12, he reached Canton (Guangzhou) and secured with difficulty an audience with the Kangxi emperor, whom he appeased by promising that the constitution would be mildly interpreted. In fact, on November 4 1721, before starting for Europe, he granted eight permissions, whereby he thought, while maintaining fully the decree of Clement XI, to remedy all hardships resulting therefrom for the converts, especially those of the better class. It was permitted to kneel down and make offerings before the amended tablets of Confucius and ancestors, as well as before the coffin of a deceased person, provided they were preceded by the necessary explanations' (Löwendahl, Sino-Western relations, 412). - A fine copy.Cordier, BS, col. 920; Lust 878.