Histoire de la mission danoise dans les Indes orientales, qui renferme en abrégé les rélations que les missionnaires évangéliques en ont données, depuis l'an 1705 jusqu'à la fin de l'année 1736

First edition of the French translation of this account of the Lutheran mission’s activities on the eastern coast of India, originally published under various titles.

Contemporary full marbled light brown calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt with garland rolls and double decorative panels, light brown calf title label, headcap shaved, gilt fillets along the edges, corners restored, red edges, period binding.

Since 1620, the Danish East India Company had held several trading posts and possessions along the Indian coastline, the principal settlement being Tranquebar. Transferred to the Danish Crown in 1779, these outposts became Danish colonies. However, frequently attacked by the British during the Napoleonic Wars, they declined until 1845, when Denmark sold them to Britain. In reality, Niekamp merely abridged the four substantial volumes of the Acts of the Danish Mission, published in Halle starting in 1718, and followed by numerous continuations. King Frederick IV of Denmark had authorized these missions in the Malabar region, sending evangelical envoys to rival the long-established Nestorian churches and the Catholic missions.

Copy belonging to a physician named Faivre, with a contemporary handwritten ex-libris on the front endpapers, followed by a manuscript note on the work, in which he expresses sharp criticism of Christian clergy of all denominations in an unmistakably Enlightenment tone ("Il faut convenir que l'intolérance et le manque de charité sont les vices dominans de presque tous les ministres des différentes religions, mais les catholiques romains les poussent au plus haut degré que les autres ...").

Pleasant internal condition.