First Spanish edition of 87 Portuguese letters by Jesuit missionaries in Japan, very valuable for the history of the Jesuits in Japan, India, and other parts of (Southeast) Asia. The work was first published in Portuguese, in Coimbra in 1570 and contains 10 additional important Jesuit letters which had never published before. Noteworthy are the woodcut Chinese and Japanese characters included in the text on leaf I8v. Cordier gives a list of these additional letters, dating from 1567 to 1571. Other newly added were: the life of Francis Xavier, Relacion de las cosas de la India by Manuel Acosta with remarks on (in order of appearance) Goa, Cochin, Daman, Ceylon, Comorin, Bassein, Ormuz, Ethiopia, Inambay and Manomotapa, Malaca, the Moluccas, Ambonia, Solor, Macassar etc., and Breve relacion de la Isla y Reynos del Iapon.
Lacking 2 leaves (¶7 and ¶8) from the preliminaries containing the "Indulgencias que nuestro Sancto Padre el Papa Pio. 4...". With 18th-century manuscript annotations in brown ink on the recto of the first free flyleaf, the title-page, at the start of the text on fol. 1r, the recto of the final leaf, and in the margins throughout; the margins show only marks to highlight certain passages, the other annotations are variations of the same owner's inscription (most elaborate on the front flyleaf): "Ex icDn. (?) Fran[ces]co et(?) Paula Caveda(?) Costo 15 ... Mad. a 4 .. Octobre 1786". The vellum of the binding is somewhat creased and stained, water stained throughout, the first and last few leaves are frayed and slightly damaged in the margins (without affecting the text), somewhat browned throughout. Otherwise in good condition. Alt-Japan-Katalog 298; Cordier, Japonica, cols. 67-68; Iberian Books 54608; Laures 140; Palau 46311; Porbase 363133 (1 copy); Salva 3282; Streit IV, 1519 (with a full list of all letters); USTC 337147.