Translations from the Manchu, with the original texts, prefaced by an Essay on the Language.

Canton : S. Wells Williams, 1849. Octavo (220 mm), recent half calf over marbled papered boards, spine lettered in gilt; pp viii, 54, [48 texts in Manchu (Mongolian) script, block printed in the Chinese style]; facing title page, a title page in Chinese and Manchu printed on yellow paper (chipped at corners); leaves with browning and scattered foxing; a sound, complete copy.

Diplomat and linguist Thomas Taylor Meadows had studied Chinese at Munich under Neumann before serving for a number of years at the British consulate in Hong Kong, and later Shanghai. Meadows was not only a gifted translator and interpreter, but also an intrepid intelligence gatherer. Although best remembered for his major work The Chinese and their rebellions (London, 1856), his Translations from the Manchu is an important contribution to the study of the Mongolian language, which is written in a syllabic script derived from the Sogdian alphabet.

Rare. The Robinson copy sold in 1988 is the only other example we can locate in auction records (Sotheby’s, The Library of Philip Robinson Part II : The Chinese Collection).

Cordier, Sinica, 2756; Lust, 1079