Folio, (278 x 188 mm). 6 ff. Early 20th century half-morocco over cloth, faux raised bands tos pine, tooled and lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers. Lightly browned and stained, short sealed tears to a couple of leaves touching a few letters but not causing loss, a very good copy of this famed rarity.

Antonio de Andrade, Portuguese member of the Society of Jesus, was dispatched to India in 1600 where he would spend over twenty years in service, including as head of the Jesuit Mission in Agra. In 1624, along with brother Manuel Marques, he disguised himself as a Hindu and joined a group of pilgrims to travel to Srinigar and cross the Mana Pass into Tibet. Andrade and Marques were the first Europeans to set foot in the Himalayan kingdom. Andrade returned to Tibet in 1625 to establish a Jesuit mission at Tsaparang in the kingdom of Guge. He succeeded in building a church but the mission was short-lived: a Ladakhi invasion toppled the Jesuit-friendly king and by 1640 the mission was abandoned.

Andrade has previously issued a letter with what is the considered the first authoritative printed account of a European traveler’s visit to Tibet, published in Lisbon in 1626.

Three examples recorded on OCLC:Royal Danish Library, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, and Biblioteca Nacional de Espana; no copies traced in U.S. libraries.

The only copy traced this century was offered by Maggs Bros. in 1958 (Voyages and Travels, Vol 5, Part IX. catalogue no 858), perhaps this copy.

Provenance: H.P. Kraus, New York, acquired circa 1980, his bookplate on front pastedown; from the collection of Nicolas Ingleton, Australia.

Cordier, BS 2898 (first edition in Portuguese); Streit V, 294