J. Dyer Ball [James Dyer BALL]
An English-Cantonese pocket vocabulary : containing common words and phrases, printed without the Chinese characters, or tonic marks, the sounds of the Chinese words being represented by an English spelling as far as practicable.
Kelly & Walsh|Hong Kong 1894|12 x 17 cm|Broché
Second edition, partly original as revised and expanded.
No copy recorded in the CCFr.
Publisher's flexible black cloth binding, smooth spine lettered in black at the centre of the upper cover.
Born in Canton itself, James Dyer Ball (1847-1919) was the son of an American missionary; he pursued his secondary education partly in Canton and partly in Great Britain before entering the British civil service in Hong Kong. He was long regarded as the finest European speaker of Cantonese, for which he moreover advocated a romanization system comparable to that used for Vietnamese.
A few minor foxing spots, slight angular losses to the covers.
€800