SEMEDO (Alvarez). Relatione della grande monarchia della Cina. Rome, Hermann Scheus, 1643. In-4, burgundy morocco, triple gilt fillet, Du Seuil decoration, richly decorated spine, gilt inner lace, gilt edges (Émile Rousselle). First Italian edition of this major work on China, compiled by Father G. Giattini from the memoirs of the Portuguese Jesuit Alvarez Semedo. It is decorated with a fine baroque portico framing the title and an out-of-text portrait of the author, both engraved on copper. Published in Madrid in 1641, this treatise on the customs and manners of the Chinese at the end of the Ming dynasty was the second general presentation of the Middle Kingdom that Europe received, after that of Matteo Ricci completed by Nicolas Trigault (1615). The accuracy of his ethnographic descriptions is entirely modern. A very fine copy in an impeccable binding by Émile Rousselle. The volume is preserved in a burgundy chagrin slipcase signed Lobstein-Laurenchet. Minor whitish marks on the boards, interior slightly faded, missing in the margin of f. D7. Cordier, BS, 24 - Lust, n°74.