Descrizione

12mo (155x97 mm). [16], 251, [13] pp. and [6] engraved plates (3 folding) by Cornelis Vermeulen. Engraved device on the title page and engraved head-pieces. Contemporary mottled calf gilt, red edges (rebacked, worn and rubbed). Some light foxing and browning, but a good copy.
Second, but first illustrated edition. The first edition, appeared in Leiden in 1687, is not illustrated.
Charles Dellon was a physician who in 1668 sailed to India with the Compaignie de Indes travelling via Madagascar and the Seychelles. He then spent some time studying the flora and fauna of the Malabar coast. He left the company in 1673 to establish his medical practice in the Portuguese colony of Damao. After critising the Inquisition, he was arrested shortly thereafter, and imprisoned for eighteen months in Goa. He was then excommunicated and sentenced to five years of hard labor.
The Relation, published with the permission of Louis XIV but placed on the Index in 1690, is a first-hand account of how the Inquisition tribunal operated and how prisoners were treated. The work was a resounding success throughout Europe and was translated into English, German, and Dutch. It influenced authors of the following century, notably Voltaire, who drew inspiration from it for Candide. The Relation also contains interesting travel descriptions of Cape Verde, Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Mozambique, the Maldives, Surat, Brazil, and the Red Sea.
Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\RAVE\040316; Barbier, IV, 210.