Claude-Phillibert DABRY DE THIERSANT
Guide des armées alliées en Chine, ou Dialogues sur les reconnaissances militaires en trois langues : français, anglais, chinois, avec la prononciation figurée du chinois. Suivi d'un vocabulaire chinois, français, anglais, et précédé de la division des provinces de la Chine et de l'hygiène à observer dans ces contrées. Vu et corrigé par un lettré chinois
[Guide to the Allied Armies in China; or, Dialogues on Military Reconnaissance in Three Languages: French, English, and Chinese, with a Phonetic Guide to Chinese. Followed by a Chinese–French–English Vocabulary, and Preceded by a Survey of the Provinces of China and Notes on the Hygienic Precautions to Be Observed in Those Regions. Reviewed and Corrected by a Chinese Scholar]
Henri Plon • W.O. Mitchell|Paris • London [Londres [London]]|13 x 19 cm|Broché
First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1643).
Small tear and minor loss at the head of the spine; covers slightly soiled.
A highly interesting trilingual lexicon, presenting Chinese ideograms alongside their phonetic transcription, published in the immediate aftermath of the French expedition of 1858.
It includes, for example, practical phrases such as how to ask "Quelle est la nature de la rade ?" or how to reply that a general is "très brave ; il ne recule devant rien".
Claude-Philibert Dabry de Thiersant (1826–1898) began his career as a naval officer before turning to diplomacy, a path that led him to hold several consular posts in the Far East. Unsurprisingly, the greater part of his scholarly work is devoted to China and Tonkin.
€750