[BIBLICAL meditations] -- Shengjing Guanyi, translated into Chinese by Joseph-Anne-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla (1669-1748). [China: Cimutang], 1740. 2 vols, 2° (266 x 163mm). Chinese type. (Small wormtrack in two leaves, occasional light spotting or small stain.) Traditional stab-stitched paper wrappers with printed label on one volume, thin paperboard box (wrappers creased and worn, box worn). Provenance: contemporary annotations in French giving the title and recording the presentation of the work by Father Pierre Foureau (1700-1749) to Father Stilting at Paris, 21 April 1745.

[BIBLICAL meditations] -- Shengjing Guanyi, translated into Chinese by Joseph-Anne-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla (1669-1748). [China: Cimutang], 1740. 2 vols, 2° (266 x 163mm). Chinese type. (Small wormtrack in two leaves, occasional light spotting or small stain.) Traditional stab-stitched paper wrappers with printed label on one volume, thin paperboard box (wrappers creased and worn, box worn). Provenance: contemporary annotations in French giving the title and recording the presentation of the work by Father Pierre Foureau (1700-1749) to Father Stilting at Paris, 21 April 1745.

FIRST EDITION IN CHINESE of meditations on Biblical texts - here on Gospel readings for Sundays and Feast days - in the tradition of Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual exercises. A Jesuit missionary, Mailla is best known for his translation into French of Chinese annals. The present copy was the gift of Mailla's contemporary Jesuit missionary to China, Pierre Foureau. The recipient, Father Stilting, is not known but may have been a Chinese convert who accompanied him back to Paris.