China Illustrata

The accessibility to essential material, as well as Kircher's vast interest in Chinese language and culture, gave the impulse to present the unknown East in one comprehensive volume of 237 pages.

[5][2] These initial runs were successful and China Illustrata was quickly translated into Dutch (1668),[6] English (1669[7] & 1673),[8] and French (1670)[9] shortly after the Latin original had been published in 1667.

The Dutch and French translations were both published in Amsterdam by Janssonius van Waesberge but, upon the death of Weyerstraten, cocredited first to his widow[6] and then to their legal heirs.

[9] John Ogilby's English versions only included a greatly abbreviated treatment of Kircher's work in their appendix, being principally concerned with Johan Nieuhof's account of the first Dutch embassy to Beijing and the Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell's rebuttal to some of its claims and aims.

[5] The French edition included a discussion between Ferdinando II de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany, and Johann Grueber and also an early Chinese–French dictionary.

[12][10] Indeed, it became one of the most influential and popular books of the 17th century[13] and is even today considered "an important source of information on the beginnings of western sinology and sinophilism in Europe".

[19] The most important and interesting features of Kircher's book—especially at that time—are numerous illustrations of nature, rare portraits of emperors and Jesuits, and accurate maps of China of high cartographical quality.