First edition. 5vols. Bound in contemporary red silk covers. Stitching going, missing red covers for volume 2. Overall still a very good set. [Guangzhou], Fuyin-tang, dated: Tongzhi 5 [i.e, 1866.
Mary Lucy Ball (1839-1912) was the 2nd child of the American Presbyterian missionary Dyer Ball (1796-1866) and his first wife Lucy Mills. They came to Singapore in 1838 but moved to Macao in 1841 due to the mother’s poor health and onto Hong Kong in 1843 where she died. Mary Lucy married the Rev. John French in 1851 but he died in 1858 on the way back to America. She returned to China in 1864 and married the widower, Rev. Varnum Daniel Collins in Hong Kong in 1867. Mary Lucy was fluent in Cantonese and having taught at a girl’s boarding school she wrote a number of books to be used as teaching materials including the present translation of “Bible History for the Least and Lowest”. Vols. 1 to 3 recount stories from the Old Testament, vols. 4&5 relate to the New Testament. Using simple language this book was originally written for the deaf and dumb and published in Philadelphia in 1854. Provenance: Philipp Allen (1938-2020) collector and a member of the Oriental Ceramics Society. Very rare. Only 1 copy of vol. 1 in OCLC.