China

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.

Headcaps missing, losses to leather on the upper board and spine, the latter split 3.5 cm at the head, scuffing to the bands, boards, board edges and corners.

Discreet worming to the margins to p. 181, occasional ink marks in the text, marginal dampstaining and browning.

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.

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.

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 politics despite the official adoption of Marxism-Leninism.

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 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 pèlerins bouddhistes".

Author of numerous works on China, Stanislas Julien (1799–1873) held the chair of Chinese and Tartar-Manchu language and literature at the Collège de France, where he succeeded Abel Rémusat in 1832.

He was also a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres from 1833.

Our copy is enriched with an autograph letter dated 4 December 1854 and signed by Stanislas Julien to M. Charles Jourdain, notably concerning the prospect of launching a subscription for the subsequent volumes (sold separately) of the Voyages des pèlerins bouddhistes series.

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 to the South Pole and Oceania (1837–1840).

Promoted captain in 1848, he was posted from 1850 to 1854 to the French naval station in Indochina.

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, slightly soiled.

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 or philosophical views, on which excessive emphasis has been placed.

It is particularly in the philological field, and in the study and history of the formation of characters, that his books and methods remain of the greatest interest, including from a pedagogical standpoint.

Ink ownership inscription at the head of a marbled endpaper.

Rare and pleasing copy.

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 Chinese history and served as the model for all subsequent dynastic annals.

The great sinologist Edouard Chavannes (1865–1918), who lived in China from 1889 to 1893, was moreover the first to undertake a complete translation of the Shiji (five volumes published between 1895 and 1905, unfortunately covering only 47 of the 130 sections of the original work).

Copy enriched with a signed presentation inscription to Georges Cogordan (1849–1904), French Minister Plenipotentiary in Peking from 1885 to 1894.

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 plundered by unscrupulous amateurs and dispersed at auction.

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 from Chinese.

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 of vernacular Chinese at the École nationale des Langues orientales vivantes.

It was in the latter capacity that he began publication of this work, which remained unfinished. A fine copy.

On a flyleaf, autograph signed presentation inscription by Michel-Alexandre Kleczkowski to William Henry Waddington (1826–1894), industrialist and archaeologist, then Minister of Public Instruction in the Dufaure cabinet, who had his initials W. H. W. gilt-stamped at the centre of the upper cover.

A fine copy, handsomely bound at the time in a personalised monogram binding.

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: between 1844 and 1846 he undertook a major expedition that brought him to Lhasa, which he succeeded in entering disguised as a lama. He remained there for six weeks before being discovered and expelled back to China.

The account of his journey, published in Paris in 1850, enjoyed considerable success. The present work, devoted to the history of Christianity in China, is divided into four parts: From the apostolate of Saint Thomas to the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. – From that discovery to the establishment of the Tartar-Manchu dynasty in China. – From the establishment of that dynasty to the death of Emperor Kangxi. – From the death of that emperor to the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858.

It also contains numerous documents on ancient religions and on occultism in general (see Caillet).

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.

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.