Later (?) gilt stamped black binder's cloth over flexible board (spine has several Chinese characters stamped on it).
[1865?] · [Shanghai; Hong Kong?]
by James Legge (translator) - CHINESE CLASSICS
[Shanghai; Hong Kong?]: Unknown., [1865?]. Later (?) gilt stamped black binder's cloth over flexible board (spine has several Chinese characters stamped on it).. Very good; title with a small, almost imperceptible perforation-stamp on a blank portion; verso of title with institutional gift stamp dated June 18, 1940 and identified as Miss Elizabeth B Harrold; pastedown with bookplate and note of release and sale.. 8vo, Title, 298, 378 pp.. Some sheets are folded and bound, hence "doubled". Chinese / English text with notes.
The Scottish sinologist and missionary James Legge (18151897) served as the first Professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford. His greatest and most lasting contribution to transcultural understanding was his massive translation entitled Chinese Classics ... This ... meticulously executed work was the greatest single achievement of Western Sinological scholarship during the nineteenth century and, though dated in style, remained the standard English version of these texts even in the late twentieth century (DNB). The first volume contains a biography of Confucius and the texts of the Confucian Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean; the second comprises the works of the Confucian philosopher Mencius. The OCLC entries on this series of titles are incomplete (see #122796134 and #18980657). OCLC dates the books "1861". Yet a careful check of the text shows that on p. 156 of the Analects there is a footnote reference to a volume published in 1863. There is also the fact that the paper and typography is atypical. Absent from Cordier and from the Löwendahl catalog, China Illustrata ...., containing other Legge translations; OCLC showing a handful of copies. (Inventory #: 21098)
The Scottish sinologist and missionary James Legge (18151897) served as the first Professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford. His greatest and most lasting contribution to transcultural understanding was his massive translation entitled Chinese Classics ... This ... meticulously executed work was the greatest single achievement of Western Sinological scholarship during the nineteenth century and, though dated in style, remained the standard English version of these texts even in the late twentieth century (DNB). The first volume contains a biography of Confucius and the texts of the Confucian Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean; the second comprises the works of the Confucian philosopher Mencius. The OCLC entries on this series of titles are incomplete (see #122796134 and #18980657). OCLC dates the books "1861". Yet a careful check of the text shows that on p. 156 of the Analects there is a footnote reference to a volume published in 1863. There is also the fact that the paper and typography is atypical. Absent from Cordier and from the Löwendahl catalog, China Illustrata ...., containing other Legge translations; OCLC showing a handful of copies. (Inventory #: 21098)