Books

Very rare first combined edition of eight medieval and early modern travel narratives to Asia, together composing the "first printed collection of traveller's tales concerning the East" (Rogers 1961, p. 29). Centred on the lore of Prester John and the Christian peoples dwelling beyond the lands of Islam, these are key texts which later inspired Western Europe to establish contact with further Asia in the age of discovery. (1) Johannes de Hesse's Itinerarius, a fictitious account of the author's pilgrimage from Jerusalem to the dominions of Prester John. The date of composition is usually given as 1389 (corresponding to the beginning of Hesse's journey in the narrative), and the earliest manuscript is dated to 1424. From Jerusalem, Hesse journeyed to Egypt, Mount Sinai, Ethiopia, eventually reaching the palace of Prester John and the shrine of St Thomas in India. Hesse importantly makes a distinction between Ethiopia (referred to as "lower India") and India proper ("middle" or "upper India"), stating that only the latter two are ruled by Prester John. He also gives a vivid description of Prester John, who "before dinner... passes you by like a Pope, with a very precious long red cape, but after dinner he struts around just like a king, riding and ruling his land" (Rogers 1961, p. 109). (2) The anonymous Tractatus de decem nationibus et sectis Christianorum ("A Treatise on the Ten Nations and Sects of the Christians"), a summary of the Christian nations of the world. These are "Latins (those who obey the Roman Church), Greeks (subjects of the Patriarch of Constantinople), Indians (those whose prince is Prester John), Jacobites (named after Jacob, a disciple of the Patriarch of Alexandria, who dwelled in Asia close to Egypt and Ethiopia), Nestorians (in Tartary and 'India Major', i.e. Central Asia), Maronites (Lebanese, no longer in communion with Rome), Armenians, Georgians, Syrians, Mozarabs (in parts of Africa and Iberia, few, but obedient to Rome)" (Rogers 1962, p. 81–2). (3) Epistola Johannis Soldani ad Pium papam secundum ("The Letter of the Sultan John to Pope Pius II"), "a nonsensical piece of invective in the form of a letter from one Sultan John of Babylon to Pope Pius II. It quite obviously satirizes the letter which Pope Pius addressed to Sultan Mohammed, and all other attempts to convert by rational argument. In content, it closely approximates a letter from Melechmasser, son of Melechmandabron of Babylon, occasionally used as an interpretation in late fourteenth or early fifteenth-century Mandeville manuscripts" (Rogers 1962, p. 83). (4) Epistola responsoria eiusdem Pii papae ad Soldanum ("The Reply of Pope Pius to the Sultan"). Related to the previous text, this is "a reply of similar authenticity and style attributed to Pius II, curiously echoes the reputedly genuine papal letter to the Grand Turk" (ibid.). (5) De ritu et moribus Indorum, the text of the Letter of Prester John. (6) A text known as "Patriarch John's report", relating that a patriarch named John came to Rome in 1122 and transmitting the information John gathered about the "Christian Indies". John reports that "Hulna is the capital of the Indian kingdom, and the River Phison runs through it. The city is inhabited only by orthodox Christians, with no heretics or infidels among them. Outside, atop a mountain arising out of a lake, stands the mother church of Blessed Thomas the Apostle... The anonymous Patriarch John report provided significant accretions to Western knowledge of St. Thomas" (Rogers 1961, p. 95). (7) Tractatus pulcherrimus de situ et dispositione regionum et insularum totius Indiae ("A Most Splendid Treatise on the Location and Arrangement of All the Regions and Islands of India"). A treatise on the reign of Prester John, with focus on "its location, flora, fauna, minerals, and of course monsters and other wonders", extracted from an earlier work of the Italian monk Jacopo Filippo Foresti da Bergamo (Rogers 1962; pp. 83–4). This marks the climax of attempts to resolve confusion surrounding the temporal-spiritual relationship between Prester John and St Thomas and the extent of Prester John's territorial dominion (John of Hesse believed that he ruled India only, not Ethiopia as well). Here "all becomes one. Pontifex John reigns as temporal and spiritual lord of Ethiopia and India. The account opens with the revelation that Prester John is the patriarch and pontiff of the Ethiopia converted by St Matthew and the eunuch of Queen Candace and of the India converted by St Thomas. Not only is he pontiff but emperor as well, with Brichbrich his capital city. Pontificate and empire are fused" (Rogers 1961, pp. 110–11). Two long paragraphs here are dedicated to the precious stones found in India (including sapphires, amethysts, diamonds, and topazes) as well as the different species of animals (including snakes, ants, elephants, and birds). (8) Alius tractatus, literally "another treatise" concerning India. This text was composed by the editor of the collection as a supplement to the previous, drawing from Foresti da Bergamo and other sources including Isidore of Seville and Pliny. The text describes India's geographical location and features, its fauna and flora ("there are vines whose leaves never fall"), its minerals (including gold and silver), and population ("there are men who never suffer from headaches or eye pathologies... [and men] with eight toes in each foot"). The first four texts were originally printed together about 1490 by Johann Guldenschaff, with the treatise on the ten Christian nations also appearing in separate editions in the same year. The Latin text of Prester John's letter and of the Patriarch John report were first published about 1479-82 in the same volume (see item 5 in this catalogue); Tractatus pulcherrimus was first printed as the final portion of the 1486 edition of Foresti da Bergamo's Supplementum Chronicarum; and Alius tractatus was printed in this edition for the first time. This is one of three editions of this collection published towards the end of the century, the other two being one printed in Deventer by Jacobus de Breda, undated, but not before 10 Apr. 1497, and another in Deventer by Richardus Pafraet in 1499. As often with similar works of this date, precedence is difficult to establish with certainty, though the consensus favours this edition over the other two. Other than the present copy, we cannot trace any other examples of this Antwerp imprint in commerce. ISTC locates only eight copies in institutions worldwide, including the copy at Liège, Bibliothèque de l'Université, which is imperfect, wanting the last leaf. READ MORE Small quarto (200 x 145 mm): a8 b4 c6 d4; 22 leaves, unnumbered. Modern vellum. Gothic letter, capital spaces. Elaborate woodcut printer's device incorporating birdcage and arms of Antwerp, on verso of final leaf. Contemporary marginal manuscript annotation to b3 verso. Vellum a little sprung and lightly soiled, small wormtrails throughout affecting text, neat marginal paper repair to c3. A very good, large copy. BMC IX 201; C 2947; Goff H144; GW M07717; Klebs 558.4; Oates 3981; Pr 9446. ISTC ih00144000. Francis Millet Rogers, The Travels of the Infante Dom Pedro of Portugal, 1961; Francis Millet Rogers, The Quest for Eastern Christians: Travels and Rumor in the A

Itinerarius per diversas mundi partes is a travel narrative by Johannes de Hesse, detailing observations and experiences from journeys through various parts of the world in the 15th century.