China

First edition, comprising only the introductory sections, without the translation itself, which required considerable labour on Biot's part, the text being renowned for its extreme obscurity.

Some foxing.

The Zhouli (Rites of Zhou) was known until the Tang dynasty as the Zhouguan (Offices of Zhou), since it is in fact a list of official functions divided into six categories, which later inspired the six ministries of the imperial administration.

The engineer Édouard-Constant Biot (1803-1850), son of the mathematician Jean-Baptiste Biot, was also a pupil of Stanislas Julien and rapidly became an outstanding sinologist, whose work remains in use to this day.

Third edition, partially revised and corrected, incorporating new material.

Bradel binding in olive-green half percaline, smooth spine, bordeaux morocco-grained shagreen lettering-piece; restored and lightly soiled original wrappers preserved; modern binding.

Some scattered foxing, bookplate mounted on the verso of the front wrapper, traces of adhesive at the head and foot of the endpapers.

The first edition appeared in 1868.

This collection of twenty-six short independent pieces chiefly concerns the Chinese world and its adjacent regions (Indochina and Japan).

Rare first edition of this complete set gathering the three parts of this practical Cantonese manual, accompanied by one of the instructional booklets intended for the Chinese teacher.

The first two volumes are each illustrated with eight plates of ideograms printed hors texte. No copies recorded in the CCFr.

The third volume shows staining at the foot of the spine, a few small spots of foxing, and minor marginal tears with slight losses to the boards of the first volume.

A very uncommon set.

First and only Franco-Chinese edition, illustrated with six etchings reproduced by Frédéric Chevalier.

A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Bulac).

Sole edition of this contemporary curiosity born of the French vogue for all things Oriental: born in 1831, Tin-Tun-Ling (or Ding Dunling) was a Chinese scholar from Shanxi and a political exile in France. Théophile Gautier met him in Paris, grew fond of him, and hired him to teach Chinese to his daughter Judith. Steeped in Far Eastern culture, she delighted in presenting herself as the reincarnation of a Chinese princess. Tin-Tun-Ling then lived in a pavilion built in the Chinese style, set in the garden of the Pré aux Oiseaux –...

First edition, adorned at the beginning of the volume with a folding facsimile (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1732).

Spine reinforced with an adhesive strip, minor marginal losses to the boards, some foxing.

These Practical Exercises are in fact a reply to the personal attacks and to two articles by M. Pauthier published in the Journal asiatique of Paris (nos. 66 and 67 of volume XII).

They "constitute the confirmation and complement" of his earlier work entitled "Examen critique de quelques pages de chinois relatives à l'Inde", translated by M. G. Pauthier, accompanied by grammatical discussions on certain rules of position which, in Chinese, play the same role as...

Second edition, the only complete one (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1430).

Spine split with small angular losses, scattered foxing.

It deals with educational institutions, examinations, and public instruction under the various dynasties.

Appended are notes on the method used in China to study the pronunciation of characters, on the organization of the Chinese administration, and on a collection of examination questions for candidates to literary degrees.

Two memoirs bound in one volume with continuous pagination. The engineer Edouard-Constant Biot (1803-1850), son of the mathematician Jean-Baptiste Biot and pupil of Stanislas Julien, rapidly became an outstanding...

First complete edition, constituting vol. 15 of the Archives d'études orientales published by J.-A. Lundell (9 copies recorded in the CCFr, including 1 in Lyon and 8 in Paris).

The work was originally a doctoral thesis defended in 1915, later expanded with supplements issued up until 1926.

Publisher’s binding in half blue cloth, smooth spine with minor rubbing, silver lettering on the spine, brown paper-covered boards, Chinese red ink stamps on the title and half-title leaves, corners bumped.

Some small angular paper losses on pp. 241, 243, and 707, without loss of text.

New edition illustrated with numerous engravings in the text: plants, animals, musical scores, geometrical figures, electrical devices, assorted objects, etc.

The table on p. 1323 presents the periodic classification of the elements; the figure on p. 1483 illustrates the path of light rays passing through lenses.

Publisher’s binding in half black percaline, spine titled in Chinese characters, sand-coloured boards slightly soiled at the margins, corners rubbed, endpapers partially toned.

The Cihai, or "Sea of Words," is a Chinese encyclopedic dictionary, work on which began in 1915 and which was first published in 1936.

Fourth edition of the French translation (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1696).

Bilingual Chinese-French text. With a loose leaf of Corrigenda (1 p. in-12). Shanghai, Catholic Mission Press, T'ou-Sè-Wè Orphanage, 1906.

Half purple percaline binding with corners, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, black cloth boards, minor superficial scratches to the covers, sprinkled edges, contemporary binding.

The first French edition appeared in 1887: it was an adaptation of a conversation guide intended for Japanese students of Chinese in Peking.

Its success lay in its practical nature, which led to further editions in 1893, 1901, 1906, and 1919.

The present edition...

First edition published in book form, expanded with the French translation established by G. Pauthier. (cf. Cordier, "Sinica", 1399-1340.)

A portion of the work had first appeared in 1832 in the "Revue Encyclopédique" of May–June, and was also issued separately in a 23-page printing.

The text is presented in French with a Latin version and the Chinese text facing.

The Chinese characters were produced using movable types engraved on steel punches and cast by Marcellin-Legrand, engraver to the Royal Printing Office.

A small angular loss at the foot of the lower cover required a minor restoration on the last page of the volume; slight, inconsequential tears at head...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a folding map in the first volume (see Cordier, Sinica, 2094; Quérard I, 260; not in Schwab or Atabey. Blackmer (111) owned only the English edition: Travels from St. Petersburg in Russia, to diverse parts of Asia, Glasgow, 1763).

Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, spines with five raised bands richly gilt in double panels, brown or green morocco title-pieces (in the second volume), red morocco volume labels, gilt rolls on the caps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to edges, marbled edges, some corners a bit rubbed.

Minor wormholes on the upper board of the first volume, light scuffing to...

First edition of this continuation of the series Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, documenting events from 1767 onward in the missions led by the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (M.E.P.) in Sichuan, Tonkin, Cochinchina, Siam, and along the Coromandel Coast. (cf. Cordier, Sinica, II, 953–957; Cordier, Indosinica, III, 1970–1978; Sabin 40704.)

Contemporary full speckled tan calf, smooth spines richly decorated with gilt garlands, fillets and floral tools, red morocco labels for title and volume number, gilt roll tooling at headcaps, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, single gilt fillet on board edges, yellow edges.

Spines slightly sunned...

First edition, one of 90 numbered copies on alfal paper, the only copies on deluxe paper.
Fine copy, complete with the loose and folding map.

First French edition, with a colour frontispiece, two engraved title pages from the English edition, and sixty-one full-page plates under tissue guards, two volumes bound in one.

Full green glazed calf, covers blind-stamped with gilt-tooled borders, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, blind-stamped motifs between the bands, gilt fillets on the headcaps, title and gilt-stamped ex-dono inscription ("offert à Madame Ramaeckers") on the spine, gilt-tooled board edges, blind-stamped border on the pastedowns, pink paper pastedowns, gilt edges, a fine Romantic binding attributable to Thouvenin jeune. Binding sunned and lightly rubbed with...

French first edition, translated by Louis Champion de Cicé, of this treatise by Longobardo, bound with Lettre d'Eusèbe romain by Mabillon (Grenoble, Etienne Bon, 1698, 88 pp.); and Lettre à Madame de Lionne by Bernardino della Chiesa (n.p., n.d., 84 pp.)

A rare copy of one of the principal Western sources on Chinese philosophy, written by the Jesuit missionary Longobardo, who succeeded Ricci as superior of the Jesuit China mission. Also with an uncommon Grenoble edition of Mabillon's pamphlet, which opened the debate on the validity of the cult of the catacomb saints. At the end of the volume, in echo of...

First edition, one of 38 copies printed, this being one of the 30 copies issued with a wash drawing by Marcel Dumont.

A fine copy.

Illustrated with an original wash drawing by Marcel Dumont.

Manuscript signatures of Marcel Dumont and François Cheng in pencil on the colophon.

First edition on ordinary paper.
A fine copy.
Inscribed and signed by François Cheng to a woman named Pascale.


 

First edition illustrated with reproductions of works by Zao Wou-Ki.
A pleasing copy.
Dated and signed autograph inscription from Zao Wou-Ki to Catherine and François Trèves.


 

First edition of the English translation, published in the same year as the first edition (in German). OCLC records only 8 copies in public libraries.

Original sewn wrappers with a pasted vignette to the upper cover, the title in English and Chinese surrounded by representations of chess pieces. Covers with sunned margins, small marginal tears at the spine folds.

Profusely illustrated with 80 in-text examples of chess games, as well as a photograph depicting monks engaged in a game of chess.

An exceptionally rare treatise on Chinese chess, published in Peking in 1937 by the only German-language publishing house in China before the Second World...

Duodecimo edition, published in the same year as the first edition, setting out a key episode in the Chinese Rites Controversy, a dispute still ongoing at the time of publication, pitting the Jesuits against the Franciscans and Dominicans.

Contemporary mottled brown sheep, spine with five raised bands and gilt compartments, gilt board edges, red mottled edges. Two early ownership inscriptions, the first on the upper pastedown and the second on the title page, both in brown ink.

First edition for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.

Spine slightly sunned with small losses at head and foot, a slight marginal loss and a transverse crease to the lower cover.

A rare copy of Alexandra David-Néel's second work.

First edition, very rare (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1476); the NUC records only a single copy.

Spine inexpertly repaired with an adhesive strip, losses to the corners of the spine and covers, wrappers browned.

Melchior Yvan (1803-1873), physician and politician, took part in the mission sent to China under the direction of the diplomat Lagrené, with the aim of concluding a treaty of commerce and navigation with that country. He published his account of the journey in several parts between 1850 and 1855.

This pamphlet appears to be one of the author's very earliest publications relating to China.

Second edition, revised and corrected, illustrated with numerous in-text figures (including a portrait of the author and two flags printed in colours) and with a folding table at the end of the volume.

Some minor foxing, traces of adhesive paper at the head and foot of the slightly soiled endpapers.

The "Triple Demism" designates "the Three Principles of the People" (liberal democracy, nationalism, social justice) formulated by the revolutionary Sun Ya-Tsen as early as 1912, and expounded in numerous public lectures throughout the 1920s.

None of these terms in fact corresponds to the meaning it holds in the West, and these principles continued to influence Chinese...

First edition (cf. Cordier, "Sinica", 1610.)

Publisher’s original full green cloth, smooth spine, marbled endpapers, red-speckled edges, decorations partly faded on spine and covers.

A few pencil annotations, chiefly at the end of the volume.

This is the pocket edition of the "Chinese and English Vocabulary" by George Carter Stent, first published in Shanghai in 1871 (3rd ed. 1898).

A good copy.

First edition of the French translation of the Hao ch iu chuan, a novel by an anonymous author from the Ming period, regarded as one of the most celebrated works of imperial Chinese fiction.

Guillard d'Arcy was one of the pupils of Stanislas Julien.

Minor losses to the head and foot of the spine, a few foxing spots.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Bulletin de la Société normande de géographie.

Contemporary-style Bradel binding in full burgundy cloth, spine titled lengthwise, burgundy paper endleaves and pastedowns, wrappers doubled and restored and preserved, modern binding. 

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, Condorcet).

This is the author’s second report delivered before a Norman audience (Pelliot had family ties to Normandy), concerning the 1906–1908 expedition to Chinese Turkestan.

It followed the Paris lecture (Trois ans dans la haute Asie, conférence de M. Paul Pelliot au grand...

Belgian edition reproducing the text of the original edition published in Paris by Charpentier in 1854, issued here in only two volumes.

Illustrated with 6 plates hors-texte, including 3 engraved frontispieces and 3 views (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 2118.)

Contemporary half black shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind fillets and gilt garlands, rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners worn, small chips to the edges, speckled edges, contemporary binding.

The map present in the original edition was not included by the Belgian publishers, although the engravings are specific to this issue.

Published...

First edition of the French translation prepared by Stanislas Julien. 

Contemporary half havana shagreen over corners binding, spine in five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with double gilt and blind-stamped panels, date gilt at foot, a few minor rubs to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt, covers and spine mounted and restored and preserved, binding signed F. Saulnier.

Pages 409–415 present, at the upper right corners, tears without loss affecting the text which have been restored, with an additional restoration to the title-page. Faded manuscript note on the half-title.

From the collection "Voyages des...

Second edition, issued in the same year as the first, and illustrated with a folding colour map at the beginning of the first volume (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 2120; Caillet, 5293; Numa Broc, Asie, 247-249).

Tears to one joint of the first volume; spine of the second volume split with minor losses; a tear without loss to p. 407 of vol. II.

A valuable copy, bearing the signature "G. Rocquemaurel" on the title-pages.

This is Louis François Gaston Marie Auguste de Rocquemaurel (Toulouse, 1804–1878), a former student of the École polytechnique, second-in-command to Dumont d'Urville as lieutenant aboard the Astrolabe during the voyage...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 2558).

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).

The First Convention of Peking (18 October 1860) was one of those unequal treaties through which the Western powers sought to impose their conception of international law upon China, which remained reluctant to comply with its provisions.

The clauses addressed in this brief memorandum concern, in particular, the full freedom of practice of the various Christian denominations as stipulated in Article 13.

Loss at the foot of the spine, marginal loss at the foot of the upper cover, minor spotting to the covers.

Paris, G. Masson, 1872. Quarto, 3 unnumbered leaves, ix and 196 pages, with 51 lithographed plates.

First edition of this important and very rare work, issued in a small number of copies. Catalogue Petit, 656; Bibliotheca piscatoria, p. 75; Nissen, ZBI, 1018.

Complete with all 51 plates, numbered I-L with an additional plate XXXV bis. They form two distinct series: 36 plates devoted to nets, fish-farming apparatus and fishing implements used in China, followed by 15 plates depicting fishes collected by the author, including several species then new to European science...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1430).

Our copy is preserved in its original temporary grey paper wrappers.

This is the first memoir only of a monograph that was eventually completed in 648 pages.

Unlettered spine split with losses, chipped corners to the wrappers, occasional foxing throughout.

The engineer Edouard-Constant Biot (1803-1850), son of the mathematician Jean-Baptiste Biot, studied under Stanislas Julien and rapidly established himself as an outstanding sinologist whose scholarship remains authoritative today.

Provenance: From the library of the celebrated mathematician Michel Chasles (1793-1880), member of the Académie des sciences...

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.

Second edition, partly original as revised and expanded.

Cordier, Sinica, cites the first edition (col. 1625).

Contemporary half black calf, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, green endpapers and pastedowns, wrappers and spine preserved, modern binding signed Boichot. 

Study of the Pounti dialect, or Cantonese, widespread in Kouangtong, spoken in part of Kouangsi, and by a large number of Chinese emigrants. 

Stamp of the "Foyer des étudiants d'Extrême-Orient" in Bourg-la-Reine on the front free endpaper. 

A dampstain to the foot of the very last leaves. a few small foxing spots, wrappers preserved...

First edition of each volume, one of 15 numbered copies on chine, deluxe issue after 2 copies on peau de vélin.

Contemporary half blue morocco over marbled boards with corners, spine in five raised bands ruled in gilt and tooled with double gilt compartments, date gilt at foot, covers framed with gilt fillets, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, ex-libris mounted on a pastedown, corners slightly rubbed, top edge gilt, signed contemporary binding.

A few minor spots of foxing, chiefly to the edges, a small nick to one band, light rubbing to the headcap.

New edition, issued two months after the first.

Attractive copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket.

Some signs of use (dog-eared pages) and pencil annotations by the dedicatee.

Signed autograph inscription from François Cheng to a couple of friends named Claudine and Noël, enhanced with a Chinese ideogram.

First edition, one of 330 numbered copies on Arches wove paper.

Minor tears to the head and tail of the spine; a pleasing copy.

With wood-engraved illustrations by François de Marliave, printed in several colours by E. Gasperini.

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Holland paper, being the only large paper issue.

Bradel binding with decorative paper featuring red and gold motifs, flat spine, small restorations to spine-ends and joints, brown shagreen title label with a corner skilfully restored, endpapers and pastedowns of blue paper with gilt motifs, soiled soiled covers and spine preserved, gilt top edge on deckle, contemporary binding.

Exceptional and precious presentation copy signed by Claude Farrère: "Pour Max-Anély que j'admire et pour mon ami Segalen. Claude Farrère." [For Max-Anély I admire and for my friend Segalen. Claude Farrère]

Later edition (the first was published three years earlier in 1906).

Bradel binding with marbled paper boards, smooth spine with some parts lacking paper, brown morocco lettering piece with some loss to margis, one joint split, handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, contemporary binding.

Exceptional copy signed and inscribed on a mounted stub by Auguste Gilbert de Voisins to his celebrated writer friend and traveling companion on Chinese roads and rivers: "to Victor Segalen in thanks for speaking to me of the Orient. AGilbert de Voisins." 

First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on pur fil.

An agreeable copy preserved under a double wrapper.

Second edition, the first edition having appeared in 1920.

Contemporary half brown sheep, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind fillets, some rubbing to the spine, beige cloth boards, endpapers and pastedowns of handmade paper, original front wrapper preserved.

This manual by the Jesuit Léon Wieger (1856–1933) serves as a practical and useful vade mecum.

Fourth edition reproducing, with only minor variations, the third edition of 1916.

Half tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets, cherry shagreen lettering piece, slight rubbing to the spine, handmade paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

This work is fundamental to the graphic and lexicological development of Chinese characters.

It is entirely unjust, as was done for more than fifty years, to minimise the role and contribution of the Jesuit Léon Wieger (1856–1933) to sinology, in which his work was of major importance despite the narrowness of his religious...

First edition of the French translation by Edouard Chavannes of an extract from the Journal of the Peking oriental society. 

Contemporary Bradel-style binding in full grey percaline, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleur-de-lis, double gilt fillet at the foot, cherry shagreen lettering-piece with surface scuffing, partially toned endpapers.

This was the translator’s first scholarly publication devoted to this treatise, which forms the twenty-eighth chapter of the celebrated Shiji (Historical Records) by the first true Chinese historian, Sima Qian (145–86 BCE).

These records constitute the first systematic synthesis of...

Rare first edition.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

Some marginal tears and losses to the boards.

In 1838 the “Chinese Museum” opened in Philadelphia on the ground floor of the museum of Charles Willson Peale, based on the objects brought back from China by the Quaker merchant Nathan Dunn (1782–1844), who had returned from a long commercial stay in Canton (1818–1832).

The whole of this collection was also exhibited in London in 1842 and, after Dunn’s death, again in 1851, the latter showing meeting with far less success.

The fate of the objects that composed it remains obscure, but the collection fell victim to its own success and appears to have been both...

First edition. 

Contemporary binding in green shagreen, spine slightly faded, with four raised bands gilt with fillets and triple compartments, joints split at the head, green vellum corners, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns in laid paper.

This volume from the Panthéon littéraire series offers a striking example of the 19th-century Western view of the East, notably in its attempt to identify counterparts to “sacred books” for religious and philosophical traditions that—apart from Islam—do not fit such a framework at all. 

The orientalist Jean-Pierre-Guillaume Pauthier (1801–1873) worked across several fields, though he is best known for his translations...

First edition printed on laid paper and illustrated with numerous tables embellished with Chinese ideograms.
Contemporary full brown Russia morocco binding, spine slightly faded, with five raised bands decorated with triple black panels, a few rubs to the spine, gilt initials W. H. W. to the centre of the upper cover, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, triple gilt fillet border to the pastedowns, all edges gilt, double gilt fillets to the turn-ins, corners slightly bumped, unsigned period binding attributable to R. Petit.
Born in Poland, Michel-Alexandre Kleczkowski (1818–1886) served as Consul General of France, Minister Plenipotentiary in China, and Professor...

First edition (see Cordier 92).

Contemporary half brown sheep over brown cloth boards, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt rules, gilt ornamental frieze and gilt name at foot, a few rubs to the spine; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; binding of the period.

Scattered foxing.

Manuscript ex-libris on the half-title: Madame Sinoir, repeated in gilt lettering at the foot of the spine.

A later issue consisting of a reissue of the 1857–58 edition, with cancel titles (see Cordier, Sinica, 770; Caillet, 5294; Numa Broc, Asie, 247–249).

At the end of the volume, volume I is illustrated with a folding hand-coloured map inserted as a plate.

Some foxing, notably to the boards.

A native of Caylus, near Montauban, Évariste Huc (1813–1860) pursued his studies in Toulouse before entering the seminary of the Congregation of Saint Lazarus in 1836.

Ordained a priest in 1839, he left for China as a missionary.

After five years’ residence, he was entrusted with an extensive journey of exploration and evangelisation across the country...

Very rare first edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this offprint from volume XXIV of the Mémoires de la Société nationale des sciences naturelles et mathématiques de Cherbourg.

Spine split with some loss, foxing and losses to the wrappers; internally in pleasing condition.

Suffering from poor eyesight, Albert-Auguste Fauvel (1851-1909) was forced to abandon the naval career he had hoped to pursue and instead turned to travel and natural-history exploration.

A speaker of Manchu, he entered the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service, where he served from 1872 to 1884. He studied the country’s fauna and flora as well as its economy. From...

A small book entirely in Chinese, from the series Chinese Spoken Language Readers for Lower Primary Schools.

Printed stamp of the Missions Museum S.J. Kirche "Am Hof" on the rear cover; a manuscript ink annotation at the head of the final page of text.

Numerous black-and-white illustrations within the text and one full-page colour illustration.

A rare and pleasing copy.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 1 folding table inserted in the second volume (cf. Cordier 547.)

Contemporary full mottled tawny calf bindings, smooth spines richly gilt with ornamental rolls and fleurons, green morocco lettering and volume labels, gilt rolls to the spine ends partially rubbed, covers framed with gilt fillets and dotted rules, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets on board edges, marbled edges, period bindings.

Some restorations to the joints and spines, a few rubs to the covers.

An important work for the legal history of China.

Volume I contains the preface, and the general, civil, fiscal, ritual and military laws; Volume II...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1282).

Contemporary flexible grey cloth, smooth unlettered spine slightly faded, blind-ruled borders to the boards, title lettered in gilt at the centre of both boards, a label bearing a handwritten inscription pasted to the upper left-hand corner of the front board, yellow paper pastedowns and endpapers, sprinkled edges.

George Thomas Staunton (1781–1859), an English diplomat and Orientalist, accompanied his father on a mission to China as early as 1792 and thus acquired a sound knowledge of the language at a very young age. In 1810, he published the Ta Tsing leu lee under the title Fundamental Laws of China. The...

First edition (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1557.)

Contemporary half black shagreen, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets and gilt floral ornaments, slight rubbing to the spine ends, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, bumped corners, speckled edges.

The sole edition of this survey, which in fact constitutes the French adaptation, by a librarian of Sainte-Geneviève, of three highly detailed articles written by the English diplomat Thomas Francis Wade (1818-1895), then attached to the secretariat of Lord Elgin. 

Their contents were brought together in The Chinese Army : Containing Notices of Its Bannermen, Hánkiun, and Luhying Divisions: With Details...

First trade edition, partly original in its enlarged form.

A portion of the work had first appeared in 1832 in the Revue Encyclédique (May-June), and had been issued separately in a first offprint of 23 pages (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1399-1340.)

Wrappers backed and restored, manuscript bookplate in the upper left corner of the title-page, a pleasing copy internally.

This is the Da Xue, the first of the Four Confucian Classics, first incorporated into the Li Ji (Book of Rites), then regarded from the Neo-Confucian revival of the Song period onward as a mirror for the Prince and likewise a mirror for subjects, centered on good government.

The Chinese characters were...

New edition of the French translation, this one by Abbé Pluquet (see Cordier, Sinica 1395-1396).

Contemporary half tan calf bindings over corners, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillets, black calf title-pieces, some rubbing to spines and headcaps, marbled paper boards with some surface wear, a few corners slightly bumped, speckled edges, period bindings.

This French translation of Father François Noël’s Latin work includes the Observations on the moral and political philosophy of the Chinese legislators, The Great Learning, or the Science of Adults, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Book of Sentences, Meng Tsee or The Book of Mencius, Hiao-king, or The Book of Filial...

Very rare first edition illustrated with a folding map bound at the beginning of the volume and 44 plates.

No copy recorded by the CCFr.

Publisher's original full indigo-blue cloth, smooth spine decorated in gilt with dotted tooling and floral ornaments, covers framed with a blind rule, corners lightly bumped.

An amateur repair with adhesive tape to the upper right corner of the first text leaf, a few spots of foxing, chiefly affecting the edges.

The author served as secretary to the very first Brazilian mission sent to China (1880).

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 105 full-page plates (including 2 folding tables, 21 maps and plans, and 82 views and facsimiles of documents).

Remarkable account of one of the most significant international opinion manipulations by China and North Korea at the onset of the Korean War: as early as 1952, North Korean and Chinese officials (including Zhou Enlai) claimed that the U.S. Army was deploying "insect vectors" on a large scale to spread diseases such as plague and cholera among the populations of Korea and Manchuria.

As later confirmed by Soviet documents published in 1998, the entire operation had been meticulously staged.

Spine with...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, issued as an offprint from the Bibliothèque de vulgarisation du Musée Guimet, vol. XXXVI. 

Essentially a concise introduction to the Daodejing (Tao te King in EFEO transcription).

Spine rebacked, with losses; corner losses to the wrappers, which are tending to detach; internally in pleasing condition.

Rare, but sold as is.

First edition of this ambitious study dedicated to the eminent Orientalist Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy, in which the author sets out to examine "l'état et les destinées de l'Asie, d'y suivre la trace des systèmes religieux et d'en indiquer l'enchaînement" (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 70. Barbier I, 305 c. Quérard XI, 101.)

Contemporary full porphyry calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with quadruple gilt fillets and gilt fleurons, gilt ornamental borders at head and foot, olive-green calf lettering- and volume-labels, three with losses at the corners, gilt rolls to the headcaps, covers framed with double gilt fillets, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, gilt fillets to...

First separate edition of Plain Language from Truthful James, which first appeared as an article in The Overland Monthly in September 1870.

Issued as a printed envelope-folder containing nine lithographed caricature plates by John Hull, each accompanied by a poem.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

Small angular tears to the envelope, with some staining to the lower margin.

Originally intended as a fierce satire on the racial prejudice of Irish-American workers against the numerous Chinese immigrants competing for railway construction jobs, the piece was widely misread as mocking the immigrants themselves.

The Jewish writer and poet Francis Brett...

Chinese accordion-fold painted album executed in ink and wash on plant-fibre paper, unfolding into a continuous panorama of the celebrated karst landscapes of Guilin extending to nearly two metres in length.

Original green silk binding woven with floral, pavilion and animal motifs in red and gold, with a manuscript silk title label reading Guilin shanshui ji ("Collection of Guilin Landscapes"), stamped with a red seal. Large red seal on the opening leaf, the artist's seals repeated throughout the panorama, and an ink signature...

Illustrated edition with 38 original engravings by Ling Chou, copper-engraved and hand-printed in sanguine, printed in 134 nominative and numbered copies on double Yu-Pan China paper.
The book, separated into two fascicles hand-sewn and covered in green moiré silk, is protected by two black lacquer plates and laces, work of the master lacquerer Tchou-Tze-Tsin.
The whole is contained in a moiré silk case closed by two ivory clasps, following the illustrator's design.
The case is partially and lightly discolored, with a light stain at the head of the first board of the case, handsome copy.
Signatures of Ling Chou, of the president and vice-president of the...

First edition strictly hors-commerce, one of 200 copies printed on glassine vellum or European paper, only print after 81 imperial Korean paper.

Our copy is complete with its overlay cover (the colour and decorative motifs often vary) and the white glassine paper label bearing the title Stèles printed in Chinese on the first part of the cover, the latter being folded into three parts.

Our copy is presented in a blueish paper chemise and slipcase, navy blue morocco spine, name of the author, title and date in palladium, slipcase in blueish paper, all signed Devauchelle in palladium.

Concertina album comprising five paintings in colour on ochre silk, mounted on card and framed with beige silk. Bound in blue brocaded silk with Chinese motifs, with a blank gold-flecked buff title label. Both paintings and binding retain notable freshness in the areas documented by the photographs.

The first page bears a four-character manuscript title, 趣味無止, freely rendered as “Pleasure Without End”. Beside it is a partially legible vertical inscription, 汴江陸[...], followed by a red seal and a final...

China, probably 19th century, undated. An album of twelve erotic paintings in ink and colour on paper, each mounted on silk and depicting a couple in an amorous scene, either in a domestic interior or in a garden or outdoor setting. Each painting measures 16 x 19.2 cm.

Accordion-fold album, 19 x 25.4 cm, the boards covered in green silk patterned with polychrome crosses over a diamond lattice, the endpapers in figured cream silk. Small losses of fabric along the edges of the boards, two further small losses to the rear board, and one fold of the accordion partly split. The twelve paintings retain a remarkable freshness of colour.

First edition, one of 13 numbered copies on Or Turner paper, large paper copy, the fewest copies.
Rare and nice copy with double cover.