China

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).

First edition of the French translation.

Our copy is issued in its original state, preserved in a blue paper temporary wrapper and housed within a double chemise and slipcase in navy half-shagreen, smooth spine, marbled-paper boards; a modern binding signed by Devauchelle.

A rare and appealing copy.

Recorded in the CCF only at the BnF.

Sole edition of this theatrical jeu d’esprit, which bears little relation to China despite the purported setting of the action: "La scène se passe à Pé-King, l’an du monde 100, 857, et de Con-Fou-Tsée 6550". In reality, it is a play about the destructive nature of gambling, for which there was no real need to summon China as a pretext; moreover, the characters speak and behave like perfectly typical French petits bourgeois."

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 – Judith’s home in Saint-Enogat. After Gautier’s death in 1872, Tin-Tun-Ling married a Frenchwoman, Caroline Julie Liégeois, who later accused him of bigamy (he was in all likelihood already married in China); following a trial in 1873, he was nevertheless acquitted. A triple photographic portrait of Tin-Tun-Ling by Nadar survives, taken in 1874, one year before the publication of this work.

This copy is preserved in its original state, in flexible yellow cloth wrappers showing small spots and, as often, minor marginal tears.

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 inflections in other languages (1841).

The frontispiece itself is a satire of Pauthier: it bears, composed by Hyacinthe Bitchourin, the Russian sinologist, this definitive remark: "Savez-vous pourquoi M. Pauthier se trompe en traduisant du chinois? C'est qu'il a une fausse idée du mécanisme de cette langue, et qu'il s'efforce de suppléer à ce qui lui manque de connoissance, au moyen de ses conjectures".

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 sinologist whose works are still consulted today.

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 comprises 4 parts: 1. Essential conversation formulas. – 2. Mandarins and merchants discussing business. – 3. The usual style of commands. – 4. Dialogues between mandarins. The Jesuit Henri Boucher (1857-1939), the translator, was successively a missionary in Kiang-Nan and in Japan.

Modern manuscript ex-libris "Jean-Marien Blondet" at the head of a flyleaf.

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 and tail of spine.

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 boards.

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, headcaps trimmed, some rubbing to spines and boards with occasional paper loss, bumped corners, occasional light spotting, internally a very good copy.

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.

9 paintings on silk in a folding album with biographies in Chinese and English. This album was certainly intended for the English to provide knowledge of Chinese mythology.
Chinese-style binding in folding format that can be opened from the right or the left. Covered in 20th-century red watered silk. 9 traditional paintings in glue on silk (11.2x16.3). Framed with bands of raw silk. Facing the painting on the left, text in Chinese then in English. In the margin above the Chinese text, the manuscript name in grey pencil of each divinity in Italian. The text pages show traces of a central fold. The legend of the first painting appears to be missing, unless this first painting serves as a general frontispiece, since the character represented is Chung Li Chuan (or Zhong Li-Quan), called the chief of the 8 immortals.

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 Society of Women Bibliophiles which published the work.