Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu has published the first volume of Kilian Stumpf’s The Acta Pekinensia or Historical Records of the Maillard de Tournon Legation. Edited by Paul Rule and Claudia von Collani, the book presents, for the first time in English, the account of the first years (December 1705-August 1706) of the visit to China by Papal Legate Charles Thomas Maillard de Touron. According to the publisher, “The German Jesuit Kilian Stumpf was a privileged observer of these events, particularly those in Beijing, the Chinese capital, but also through his extensive correspondence in the rest of China. He worked directly for the Chinese Emperor Kangxi as director of the imperial glassworks. He was designated as the procurator or negotiator with the Legate on behalf of his Jesuit companions; he lived in the same house as the Legate during his period at the court and as a papal notary kept a daily record of events and copies of key documents in a huge document sent in sections to Rome, the Acta Pekinensia.”
