Dwa listy Michała Boyma SJ do Europy (1656; 1658) i edytorskie dossier jego rozmaitych prac powstałych w Europie na temat Chin

Golvers Noël, Two new letters from Michael Boym, SJ in Europe (1656; 1658), and the editorial dossier of his various European works on China (Dwa listy Michała Boyma SJ do Europy (1656; 1658) i edytorskie dossier jego rozmaitych prac powstałych w Europie na temat Chin).Both items, now in Munich but originally from the library of Jacob Golius in The Hague, represent two so far unknown autograph letters of Michael Boym (1656; 1658). The contents reveal his initiatives to get his manuscripts (Atlas; Medicus Sinicus and a so far unknown title on moxibustion) printed. Both letters are also the first documents which shed a clear light on the network between Rome and the Amsterdam printer Blaeu, in which were involved Jacob Golius, his brother in Rome, the Carmelite Caelestinus a Sancta Lidwina, and the Antwerp hagiographers Bollandus and Henschenius; this was the same network as the one behind the printing process of Martini’s Novus Atlas Sinensis.Golvers Noël, Two new letters from Michael Boym, SJ in Europe (1656; 1658), and the editorial dossier of his various European works on China (Dwa listy Michała Boyma SJ do Europy (1656; 1658) i edytorskie dossier jego rozmaitych prac powstałych w Europie na temat Chin).Both items, now in Munich but originally from the library of Jacob Golius in The Hague, represent two so far unknown autograph letters of Michael Boym (1656; 1658). The contents reveal his initiatives to get his manuscripts (Atlas; Medicus Sinicus and a so far unknown title on moxibustion) printed. Both letters are also the first documents which shed a clear light on the network between Rome and the Amsterdam printer Blaeu, in which were involved Jacob Golius, his brother in Rome, the Carmelite Caelestinus a Sancta Lidwina, and the Antwerp hagiographers Bollandus and Henschenius; this was the same network as the one behind the printing process of Martini’s Novus Atlas Sinensis

A missão jesuíta na China (sécs XVII-XVIII) como suporte de circulação do conhecimento entre a Europa e a China

The circulation of Western knowledge (in its broadest sense) can be described from various angles. Relying on an overall evidence collected in the last 20 years, I focus on the various routes (especially less well-known “viae”), the media used as carriers (printed books; periodicals; correspondence; illustrations; objects and instruments; oral contacts), and the places where these exchanges happened. Particular attention I pay to the two-sided character of this exchange and the ‘intercultural’ crossing and interaction between Western / Chinese books, illustrations, and forms / techniques of knowledge. All in all, this evidence undeniably shows the primary role of the Jesuit mission as communication route between cultures, the enormous volume of exchanged knowledge and the gigantic personal and collective involvement in this process.A circulação do conhecimento ocidental (no seu sentido mais amplo) pode ser descrita sob várias perspetivas. Baseando-me numa evidência global apurada nos últimos 20 anos, concentro-me nas várias rotas (especialmente em “viae” menos conhecidas), nos meios usados como portadores (livros, periódicos, correspondência, ilustrações, objetos e instrumentos e contactos verbais) e nos lugares onde essas trocas aconteceram. Presto particular atenção ao carácter bilateral dessa troca e ao cruzamento e interação “intercultural” entre livros, ilustrações e formas ou técnicas de conhecimento ocidentais e chineses. Em suma, esta evidência mostra claramente o papel primordial da missão jesuíta como via de comunicação entre as culturas, o enorme volume de conhecimento trocado e o gigantesco envolvimento pessoal e coletivo nesse processo

Antoine Thomas, SJ, and his Synopsis Mathematica: biography of a Jesuit mathematical textbook for the China mission

This article is an examination of a nearly forgotten massive two-volume octavo textbook of introductory (theoretical and practical) mathematics published in Douai in 1685, with a second issuing of it in 1729. The theme of mathematical training has been central to the understanding of the Jesuits in China in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and this discussion gives a detailed survey of the mathematical ‘baggage’ of the author, Antoine Thomas, SJ, (1644-1709). Here we consider his teaching at the Colégio das Artes in Coimbra, Portugal, in the late 1670s, when he synthesized basic mathematical knowledge. Most importantly, Thomas’s Synopsis was explicitly written for the use of Jesuit candidates for the China mission, and describes in detail the minimum level of mathematical, and especially astronomical, knowledge and skills that were expected from them. Despite its two issues and its well-targeted didactic program, the book’s reception—which spans a period from 1685 until at least 1756, when there is evidence that it was still being recommended—was actually quite limited; this reception can mainly be gauged from the twenty-six extant copies, and some references in auction catalogues. These data reveal a restricted geographic spread, with some notable exceptions, including some copies which made it to South America. Soon after its appearance, the Synopsis found a secondary use outside the context of the Jesuit mission to China as a textbook of mathematics. It later enjoyed a reception as a ‘collector’s item’, although it had no further scholarly impact

The Jesuits in China and the Circulation of Western Books in the Sciences (17th-18th Centuries): The Medical and Pharmaceutical Sections in the SJ Libraries of Peking

In total, 281 medical and pharmaceutical books, and some journals (including ‘general’ ones, such as the Gazeta de Lisboa) are preserved in the so-called Beitang collection (Peking). These, in the main, originate from the pre-1773 Jesuit collections in Peking and elsewhere. They constitute, together with other written sources, a primary source reflecting the medical aspect of the Jesuit presence and activities in seventeenth till eighteenth century China. It is possible to identify a core of 68 items brought to Peking in 1623. This is followed by a decline (in the number of acquisitions, and probably interest in upgrading the collection), until in 1685 Ferdinand Verbiest tried to provide fresh impulse to book acquisition, without significant results. Yet, medical books continued to arrive until the very end of the Jesuit presence in Peking, apparently more often at the (French) Beitang than the Portuguese college (Nantang), with its strong focus on mathematics, linked to the activities in the Astronomical Bureau of its residents. I try to tease out details of the identity of the readers and their interests, which turn out to be multi-faceted and heterogeneous, due to the relatively long (200 year) period of acquisition. These reflect factors such as the evolution in European medicine and pharmacology, the multi-national composition of the staff, their different professional backgrounds and level of instruction, and the various types of diseases they were confronted with

Scientific books and individual curricula among Jesuit Indipetae in Portugal and China (17th-18th cent.)

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Old provenances of the Western books in the former (and current) Xujiahui (Zikawei)-library, Shanghai

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Globalization and exchange of knowledge between West / East: the means (“media”) of the scholarly communication, and its impact on Chinese readership

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Henri Bosmans, S.J., et la mission jésuite en Chine

Golvers Noël. Henri Bosmans, S.J., et la mission jésuite en Chine. In: Bulletin de la Classe des sciences, tome 21, 2010. Le Père Henri Bosmans SJ (1852-1928) historien des mathématiques. pp. 135-152

'The earliest examples of Chinese characters printed in the Southern Low Countries (Leuven, 1672; Antwerp, 1683)

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