Leighton Library, Dunblane

Scotland's oldest purpose-built independent library founded in 1687

Leighton Library has a 1615 first edition of "De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas" by Matteo Ricci

Added at 17:36 on 11 May 2024

Leighton Library has a 1615 first edition of "De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas" (On the Christian Mission among the Chinese) by Italian priest and mathematician Matteo Ricci who died #OnThisDay 11 May 1610. He argued that Confucianism and Christianity are remarkably similar. His journals contained an overview of the late Ming China's geography, politics, and culture, its philosophy and religions, and described the history of Christianity's inroads into China. This was the first major book published in Europe by an author who was not only fluent in Chinese and conversant in Chinese culture but also had travelled over much of the country. He became the first European to enter the Forbidden City of Beijing. He was the subject of a documentary by Italian film director Gjon Kolndrekaj in 2009, entitled Matteo Ricci: A Jesuit in the Dragon's Kingdom