WYLIE (Alexander).

Chinese Researches.

First edition. Portrait frontispiece, 2 photographic plates, and several illustrations in the text. 8vo. Original yellow cloth (minor staining), but very good inside. [iv], 4, 150, [iv], 101, 194, [ii], 195-271pp. Shanghai, [Privately Printed], 1897.

£650.00

Wylie (1815-1887), a Protestant missionary and famous linguist, came to China in 1847. In Shanghai he was in charge of the mission press and his translations and publications were of great use to Chinese scholars. He was an avid book collector and Henri Cordier states that Wylie’s library was the foundation of the monumental ‘Bibliotheca Sinica’. The present book is collection of writings, published posthumously, by and about Wylie, with contributions by Edkins and Cordier. They are divided into four parts: Part I - Literary: Lecture on Prester John. Buddhist Relics. The Bible in China. Secret Societies in China, Competitive Examinations. Part II - Historical: Israelites in China, Nestorian Tablet in Si-Ngan Fu, Note on the Advance of a Chinese General to the Caspian. Part III - Scientific: The Mongol Astronomical Instruments in Peking. Eclipses recorded in Chinese Works. List of fixed Stars. Asbestos in China. Magnetic Compass in China. Jottings on the Science of Chinese Arithmetic. Part IV. - Philological. Essay on Chinese Language and Literature. Origin of the Manchu Character. “Only by dividing the manuscripts between two printing establishments could the work of printing be completed in a year. This accounts for want of continuity in the numbering of the pages.” (Preface)

Stock No.
212099