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4to. VIII, 376 pp. Near contemporary marbled paper spine over brown papered boards. First edition. "Detailed account of Christian beginnings in the China mission and of Christian Influence upon Taiping ideology" (Boardman). A thorough report prepared by the Scottish Protestant missionaries Robert Morrison (1782-1834), who arrived in Macau in 1807, and William Milne (1785-1822), who joined him there in 1813, describing missionary activities in China, Southeast Asia and the East Indies. It portrays China as a country of idolatry and polytheism, a place where astrology, divination, geomancy and necromancy prevail, hightlighting the importance of evangelization: "At the present time, the Gods of China are [.] 'in number like the sands of 'Hang river' [.] The idolatry of ancient Canaan, of Egypt, of Greece, of Rome, of Chaldea, and of India; are all to be found here, though with some slight variations". Their report further comprises a remarkably detailed account of the techniques and economics of Chinese printing, both from woodblocks and from movable type, including costs for cutting a specific number of characters and the rates of production of the Chinese workmen, as well as extensive lists of Chinese books printed by the missionary presses, along with an appendix of Malay books, for which Milne acknowledges information from the missionary C. H. Thomsen. - The "Retrospect" is based on a manuscript written by Robert Morrison at Canton in 1817. In a letter of that year, Morrison noted that Milne would probably enlarge it and print it at Malacca, and Milne's preface to the present book acknowledges his debt to Morrison's manuscript, noting that he has actually taken it beyond the original ten years to cover events and activities as recent as 1819. - Milne and Morrison were the first Protestant missionaries in China, prepared the second complete Chinese translation of the Bible, set up two printing offices (including the press at Malacca that produced the present book), and established the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca under the auspices of the London Missionary Society in 1818. - Binding slightly rubbed and spotted. Tear to page 203. Occasional marginal chips and small tears and occasional minor and mostly marginal foxing, but otherwise in very good condition, nearly untrimmed. - Contemporary label of the London lending library of Kanes James Ford (1792-1886) to upper cover, including the handwritten shelfmark "1321" and "terms of reading this book" below the label, stating lending fees. An additional, illegible contemporary ownership to flyleaf (perhaps by a fellow missionary); pencil date "8 July 1858" to front paste-down. - Selbourne Library stamp to reverse of the title-page and in the lower margin of another page, indicating the collection of the French-born Manchester physician and bibliophile (Henri Armand) Hugh Selbourne (1906-73). - Cordier, Sinica 1222. Lust 927. Sovik, Church and State in Republican China 389 ("a valuable source"). Boardman, Christian Influence upon the Ideology of the Taiping Rebellion 164.
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