Michał Boym’s Manuscripts and Books: Recent Discoveries

Abstract

Michał Boym SJ (卜彌格) (1612-1659) was a Polish Jesuit missionary who arrived in China in 1644, the very year of the Manchu invasion and capture of Peking Supporters of the Ming organized resistance against the invaders in southern China and Boym found himself at the court-in-exile of the last Ming emperor, Yongli (永曆), who at that time adopted Christianity. Boym was his loyal supporter till the end of his days. During his time in China and Europe, as well as on his long travels between the two continents, together with his travelling companion, Andreas Zheng, he translated many works and also wrote books about Chinese history, geography, botany, zoology, medicine, pharmacy, philosophy, and language. Only a small part of these were published under his own name. Most of his works were plagiarised or included in other books. This article aims to explore the recent discoveries about Michał Boym’s Manuscripts and Books.