[CHINA]
KIRCHER, ATHANASIUS. China Monumentis. Amsterdam: J. Jansson, 1667. First edition. Later red leather over green paper covered boards, the edges speckled red and black. 15 x 9 3/4 inches (38.5 x 25 cm); with engraved title, portrait, 21 plates, 2 folding maps, numerous engravings in text. Heavily browned throughout with some offsetting, some stray stains, small punctures and occasional marginal tears or small losses, discreet repair to lower margin of title, the first map with a few short splits at folds, the large folding chart with a long tear into plate where mounted, this tear repaired with tape which has left some stains, the second folding map with a short tear where mounted and a few short marginal tears, the binding worn and rubbed with the head of spine pulled away.
The true first edition of Kircher's influential work on China, which includes the first Chinese vocabulary printed in the West (Merrill). Numerous other curiosities are also depicted in the unusual plates. Brunet III, 666; Merrill 20.