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

Canton : S. Wells Williams, 1849. Octavo, contemporary wrappers pasted over the original printed wrappers, spine with early manuscript title ‘Manchu Language’, sewn as issued, the Sir Thomas Phillipps copy inscribed “MHC” and with shelf-mark in ink on inside of upper cover, 1 leaf with the title in Manchu and Chinese, printed on yellow paper, facing the English title, pp viii, [1]-54, [2 blank] + [48 texts in Manchu (Mongolian), block printed in the Chinese style]; printed on double-folded Chinese paper; housed in a gilt lettered brown cloth clamshell box.

From the library of Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn Löwendahl (1941-2013).

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.

Löwendahl, China illustrata nova, Supplement, 1775; Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 4, col. 2756; Lust, 1079