A presentation copy of the first edition of an important early work on Vietnam published in Rome in 1650 containing the FIRST PRINTED MAP of the region. Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660) was a Jesuit priest born in Avignon, France, who devoted most of his life to missionary work in Vietnam. Originally sent to Japan, he arrived in Macau in 1623. He was then sent to Vietnam where he remained until banished in 1645. He wrote the first Vietnamese catechism and had a major influence on Vietnamese writing. He was a gifted linguist who mastered Vietnamese in only six months. He went on to compile the first Portuguese-Latin-Vietnamese dictionary. He was also one of the first to attempt to Romanize the Vietnamese alphabet, in other words to write it using western characters. The present day national language of Vietnam, Quoc Ngu, is based on his original phonetic and transliteration work. As a missionary Rhodes was constantly battling with the local pagan priests, was exiled twice and nearly sentenced to death for his teachings. Rhodes claimed in his reports that he converted more than 6,000 Vietnamese. He also worked as a missionary in China, Macao and Persia, but his true love was for the Vietnamese people.

The first part of the work is a description of Tonkin and its customs, the second part discusses his missionary activities in the region. The engraved map is the earliest to show Vietnam in detail and is centred on the Gulf of Tongkin and Hainan. It extends to Macao in the east, the borders of Laos and Quang Ngai in the south. Provenance: presentation copy from the author with Latin inscription on the title of ‘Donum Auctoris’, or ‘gift of the author’; contemporary manuscript notations on titlepage of the Society of Jesus. Cordier (1912-32) 1619; Suarez (1999) p. 217; Walravens (1987) 158.