The Astronomia Europaea of Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J. (Dillingen, 1687): text, translation, notes and commentaries / Noël Golvers, [editor].
"Jointly published by Institut Monumenta Serica, Sankt Augustin and Ferdinand Verbiest Foundation, Leuven."
Translation of: Astronomia Europaea svb Imperatore Tartaro Sinico Cám Hý appellato ex umbra in lucem revocata.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [503]-527) and index.

***Graphic resource: facsimile reprints of original plates from Astronomea Europea, Yixiang tu 儀象圖 and Xichao ding'an 西朝定安 ; maps of Beijing, Imperial and Forbidden cities in Verbiest's time.
Keywords: Solar observations, lunar observations, astronomical mathematics, calendar and calendrical technology; court astronomers, Beijing ; meteorology, optics, hydraulics, music.

Local access dig.pdf. [Golvers-Astronomia Europaea 1993.pdf]

Full title: Astronomia europaea svb imperatore tartaro sinico Cám Hý appellato ex umbra in lucem revocata à R.P. Ferdinando Verbiest.
Dilingae : typis sumptibus, Joannis Caspari Bencard, bibliopolae academici. Per Joannem Federle, Anno M. DC. LXXXVII. [1687]

Library copy imperfect: lacks folding plate [?]. Title vignette: symbol of the Society of Jesus.
Spine title: Verbiest Astronomia Europaea "B.M.Z.K.W. M 102"

Includes: Catalogus patrum Societatis Jesu qui post obitum S. Francisci Xaverii ab Anno 1581. usque ad Annum 1681. in Imperio Sinarum Jesu Christi fidem propugnarunt....e Sinico latine redditus a P. Philippo Couplet (pp. 100-126)
Originally compiled by Han Lin 韓霖 and Zhang Geng 張賡 under the title: Shengjiao xinzheng 聖教信證 ; completed by F. Verbiest. Cf. British Museum general catalogue of printed books. (Note adapted from OCLC #12353103)

Keywords: Solar observations, lunar observations, astronomical mathematics, calendar and calendrical technology; court astronomers, Beijing ; meteorology, optics, hydraulics, music>
See also: Golvers, N., Astronomia Europaea (1993)

N.B. Description based on Jap-Sin II, 43.

Budeyi bian [Pu-te-i pien] 不得已辯 [辨]
By Nan Huaren 南懷仁 (Ferdinand Verbiest).
One juan. Bamboo paper, bound in European style. No date or place of publication.

The cover bears a Latin title: “Refutatio persecuto | ris Yam Quam Sien | circa res mathemati | ces | a p. Ferdin. Verbiest | S.J.”

In his preface Verbiest states that, after the great persecution of Yang Guangxian against the missioners, Adam Schall had lost the power of speech. Verbiest himself, being a newcomer to China, had been unable to defend himself and he had therefore lived in retirement. This was the occasion for him to reflect and to discover the errors of Yang Guangxian. Verbiest then points out that the calendar method of Yang Guangxian came from the traditional school of the Ming dynasty. Since the establishment of the new regime, the Shunzhi emperor had proclaimed the employment of the new European method, which had been in use for over twenty years and had yielded good results. In Verbiest’s opinion, progress comes from long and careful studies. The longer the studies, the more perfect will be the science of the calendar. Yang Guangxian, however, esteemed the old method and belittled the new one. As the result of his maliciousness eight members of the Imperial Observatory had lost their lives. Yang Guangxian cared only for the principles of calendar making and ignored the practical side. To this Verbiest retorts that to show the validity of the principles one must see them in practice. Wrong principles can never give good results. The disgrace of Yang Guangxian before the Kangxi emperor and his ministers through the failure of his experiments clearly showed that he was ignorant of the principles of calendar making. Finally, Verbiest concludes that although justice had been done in the case of Yang Guangxian, the damage done by Yang’s books still remained. For this reason he still wished to publish his work as a defense of the truth.--Cf. Albert Chan, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 344-346.

For full bibliographic citation see Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).

China's transition to modernity : the new classical vision of Dai Zhen / Minghui Hu.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

The man and his times -- How Jesuit science conquered the Kangxi court -- Searching for truth in the origins of civilizations -- How to build a coalition around science -- An outsider enters the mainstream -- How to dethrone Jesuit science -- Bringing it home to the palace of light -- Legibility of visionary scholars.

Local access dig.pdf. [Hu-China's Transition.pdf]

Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J. (1623-1688) and the Chinese heaven : the composition of the astronomical corpus, its diffusion and reception in the European republic of letters / Noël Golvers.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 568-610) and index.

"This book describes more than 220 copies, nearly all of European provenance, of various astronomical publications by Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J. (1623 - 1688), either xylographical copies sent from Peking (reports, instrument drawings, eclipse maps, ephemeredes; stellar maps), or copies of Astronomia Europaea. This multiplies the number of known copies by ten. The first part of this book describes the characteristics of this astronomical corpus - one of the most spectacular bibliographical testimonia of the Jesuit presence in 17th - 18th century China, and disentangles the complex mutual interrelationship between the various items of this corpus. Moreover, by investigating handwritten dedications and owner's marks, material indications and external testimonia, Golvers sketches the history of the shipments of these documents to Europe, connecting them to the late 1670s, to Ph. Couplet's European 'tour' (1683 - 1692) and to the presence of A. Thomas, S.J. in Peking (late-1685 - 1709).

Behind all these shipments, there is the personal effort of F. Verbiest, and his own handwriting can be recognized in many pieces. After his death, also the French and German Jesuits in Peking continued this diffusion process, albeit to a lesser extent, in their relations with France, the German countries, and St. Petersburg. In the last part of this monograph, several cases are discussed which illustrate how in the 17th - 18th centuries European scholars 'received' these documents, for their astronomical, sinological, historical, linguistic or purely bibliophile aspect. In this part of the inquiry, unknown aspects of the history of many early Chinese collections in Europe are discussed. All in all, this research measures, for the first time, the penetration of Jesuit publications on China in contemporary Europe in quantitative and geographical-historical terms. It also traces the different motivations of these dispatches (i.e. public relations, apology for the particular evangelization methods; offering bibliophile curios in return for support).

This abundantly illustrated publication represents not only a substantial contribution to this history of the Jesuit mission in China and the methods applied, but is also an advancement in our knowledge of the history of western astronomy in East Asia, and of the Sino-Jesuit printed materials preserved in European collections."--Publisher note, p. [4] of cover.

Sections of this title available on Google Books.
Review: N. Sivin, Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 36, part 2, p. 240 (May 2005).

Citation see: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).
CCT BnF, vol. 5, pp. 517-552 [BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris), Shelf: Chinois, 5007].
See Faguo guojia tushuguan Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao wenxian 法國國家圖書館明清天主教文獻. Chinese Christian texts from the National Library of France. Textes chrétiens chinois de la Bibliothèque nationale de France.

L'observatoire de Zi-ka-wei : cinquante ans de travail scientifique.
Cover title also in Chinese: Xujiahui tianwentai 徐家匯天文臺.
Xujiahui guanxiangtai formerly related to Lujiabang guanxiangtai and She Shan guanxiangtai; became part of Zhongguo kexueyuan Shanghai tianwentai in 1962. LC auth. rec.

Library copy with bookplate of Alphonse Maillet, Shanhai, Juin 1943. 
Local access Dig.pdf [Zikawei Observatoire.pdf].
Second pdf: Météo-France Bibliotheque edition [Zikawei Observatoire Météo-France Biblio.pdf]

The Observatory of Zi-Ka-Wei : fifty years of scientific work.

English translation of otherwise identical French work: L'observatoire de Zi-ka-wei : cinquante ans de travail scientifique.
Cover title also in Chinese: Xujiahui tianwentai 徐家匯天文臺.

Local access dig.pdf. [Zikawei Observatory English.pdf]

Xichao ding'an 熙朝定案 : "...3rd important collection, by 1684 3 juan....started in the early 1670's [for] the purpose of defending the "restored" Western astronomy (April 1669 Verbiest had replaced Yang Guangxian as head of the Astronomical Bureau) by publishing official documents (ding'an) which tell the story of its restoration [and] victories over subsequent attacks on the validity of Western astronomy....by concentrating on the role of Verbiest as a loyal and esteemed servant of the Emperor, Xichao ding'an was meant as an apology for Christianity itself..." ; Xichao ding'an was printed in several parts dating before 1672....pp. 71-224 reproduces BAV Barb.Or. 132.3 (1668-1673). Xichao ding'an apparently constituted one of the main sources for Zhengjiao fengbao 正教奉褒 : p. 132-134."--Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, vol. 1.

JapSin II, 67 II
Xichao dingan 熙朝定案.
Three ce, in a paper case. Yellow bamboo paper (ce 1 and without division into juan 3) and white paper (ce 2). Ce 2 and 3 are the same, but to ce 3 five documents have been added.

The covers of ce 2 and 3 are rebound with new covers and bear no inscriptions. Ce 1 bears on the cover the title written in ink and a Latin inscription: “Decreta Imperatoris in favorem Mathematicae et PP. Pekinensium.”

Ce 1 has a table of contents in three and one-half folios. In the middle of each folio the title of the book is given and below the fish-tail the number of the folio.
These books contain memorials concerning the Imperial Observatory, dating from the seventh to the fifteenth year of the Kangxi reign (1669–1676).
Ce 1 deals quite fully with the persecution of Yang Guangxian 楊光先 and with Wu Mingxuan 吳明烜 and his Mohammedan calendar. At the end of the book there is a written message offered to the deceased Schall recognizing his innocence and at the same time restoring his former ranks. There is also an imperial decree granting to Schall the title of Tongwei jiaoshi 通微教師 (Religious Teacher Who Comprehends the Mysterious).
The folios 46v–52v of ce 2 contain the memorials of Duihana 對哈納 and other ministers (cf. Jap-Sin II, 42). These can be found also in Jap-Sin II, 67 2^a 熙朝特典, document 6, folios 1r–16r. Again, the folios 53r–55r 史部題疏 can also be found in Jap-Sin II, 67 2^a, document 7, folios 17r–19r. The memorial of Verbiest in folios 61r–64r appears also in Jap-Sin II, 67 2^a, document 4, folios 6r–9r. Folio 33, another of Verbiest’s memorials, appears also in Jap-Sin II, 67 2^a, document 2, folio 4. Finally, folios 34r–36r 內務府滿官傅旨 can also be found in Jap-Sin II, 67 2^a, document 1, folios 1r–3r.
The documents added to ce 3 are: Xinzhi lingtai yixiangzhi tigao 新製靈臺儀象誌題稿 (five folios) and Xichao dingan tigao 熙朝定案題稿 (four documents, altogether thirteen folios).

Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 379.

JapSin II, 67 III
Xichao dingan 熙朝定案.
No division of juan, one ce, without division into juan; bamboo paper with a paper case.

The cover bears the title written in ink.

1. 恭紀驗砲綸音盛典，康熙二十一年南懷仁述. A description, composed by Verbiest in 1682, of the testing of the new cannon. Folios 166r–171r.

2. 康熙十九年十一月十六日南懷仁進呈砲式奏章. A memorial presented by Verbiest, dated 5 January 1681, presenting different types of cannons. Folios 172r–174v.

3. 康熙二十年二月十一日工部題稿論進呈砲式事. A memorial presented by the Ministry, dated 30 March 1681, presenting different types of cannons. Folios 175r–178v.

4. 康熙二十一年正月二十七日南懷仁奏論進呈神威砲圖書. A memorial presented by Verbiest, dated 5 March 1682, presenting the plan of the Shenwei cannon. Folios 179r–182v.

5. 康熙二十一年四月初十日史部題章論進呈神威砲圖書事. A memorial from the Ministry of Personnel, presented on 16 May 1682, dealing with the plan of the Shenwei cannon. Folios 183r–184r.

6. 康熙二十一年七月二十九日南懷仁奏論推定盛京本地交食之法. On 31 August 1682, Verbiest presented a memorial on how to determine eclipses in Liaodong province. Folios 185r–187v.

7. 康熙二十一年八月二十五日禮部題稿論推定盛京交食之法事. On 26 September 1682, the Ministry of Rites presented a memorial on how to determine eclipses in Liaodong province. Folios 188r–189r.

8. 禮部題稿論推定盛京本地交食之法. A memorial presented by the Ministry of Rites on how to determine eclipses in Liaodong province. Folio 190.

9. 康熙二十二年八月二十日南懷仁奏論進呈砲式事. A memorial presented by Verbiest, dated 10 October 1683, on different types of cannons presented. Folios 191r–195v.

10. 康熙二十二年八月二十六日南懷仁奏進呈窮理學書. A memorial presented by Verbiest, dated 16 October 1683, presenting books on philosophy. Folios 196r–199v.

11. 康熙二十五年三月二十九日工部奏論北京街道牌樓改正事. A memorial presented by the Ministry of Works, dated 21 April 1686, on the modification of the streets and the celebration arches. Folios 1r–8r.

12. 康熙二十五年七月二十八日侍衛趙昌傅帶旨諭南懷仁論製砲事. On 15 September 1686, the imperial Body Guard of the Kangxi emperor, Zhao Chang, communicated an imperial decree to Verbiest on the manufacture of cannons. Folios 1r–2v.

13. 康熙二十五年十月二十日南懷仁奉旨往海子測新開河道事. Verbiest left for Haizi on 5 December 1686, by imperial order, to survey the newly finished canal. Folio 3.

14. 康熙二十六年二月十六日旨命南懷仁鑄砲事. On 28 March 1687, by imperial decree, Verbiest was told to cast cannons. Folio 4r.

The last two folios consist of illustrations of different types of cannons.

Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 379-381.

For full information see: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database) (http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/sinology/cct)