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[1], 298, 378 pp. ; bound in Chinese fashion, with folded sheets right to left, in a western-style, mid-nineteenth century cloth board cover binding with decorations ; James Legge, the famous Scottish sinologist and missionary of the London Missionary Society was born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on Dec 20th, 1815. He graduated from Highbury Theological College in 1837, joined the London Missionary Society in 1838 and went to Malacca in 1839 as a missionary. In 1843 Legge arrived in Hong Kong and remained there until 1873 except for three short trips back to Scotland. In 1876, Legge became the first professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford, and died in 1897 ; This is the first volume of Legge's monumental translation of nine sacred books of Chinese literature, in a very probable 1st edition, 1st Chinese printing, with mixed asian and western binding materials, and containing the texts of the ?? [da xue], or Great Learning, ?? [zhung yong], Moderation or Doctrine of the Mean, ?? [lung yü], The Analects (of Confucius), and ?? [meng zi], Mencius ; with Chinese text printed at top, translation in the middle, and commentary at bottom ; while this is clearly Legge's text, the author's name is given in Chinese fashion as ?? [Gu Lu], or loosely translated, "Watchman Deer", which more probably (and properly) should be rendered "Lu Gu" for "Leg-ge" ; The difficulties of printing this first volume were recounted by the author's daughter: "he had to superintend the publication and binding of his works, and to send to England for paper, printing ink, etc. Among his minor worries was the fact that the volumes of Classics had to come out in various bindings. Uniformity of binding could not be secured because materials were scanty in Hong Kong. Also, owing to the lack of English booksellers, he had to get the storekeepers to sell the Classics on commission among their other wares. On one occasion the ship containing all his printing paper and ink struck upon a rock and went down within sight of her anchorage in Hong Kong harbour. Her masts, sticking up above the sea, were visible from his verandah. ' we can start with five men instead of three. I had engaged Sow-lung and two other men to begin printing on the first of June. If he begins now in November or December with four other men we shall be in six months nearly as far as we should have been. In the meantime I telegraph by the mail--Replace invoice immediately, sending one half by Suez Canal and one half round Cape.' After printing the books in Hong Kong he had to write to England for cases to be sent out in which to pack them and send them to England to his bookseller. 'Four hundred cases for one volume ought to be here any day, and four hundred for the other volume next month. Those cases will cost me about fifty pounds.' .Another time certain cases of his books.arrived after having been for a long time under water in the hold. 'I insured them for £250--I shall claim for at least £80. He sent several of his books to a friend to sell in Amoy, and received the following letter: 'Alas for your Classics. Macgregor delivered them in the condition he got them out of the wreck. I had them put in the sun and thoroughly dried, but I could not offer them to subscribers. The mould has got into the inside. It is a sad loss.' ; Helen Edith Legge continues, "he asked himself, 'How can the expense of publication be met?' A British merchant in Hong Kong, Mr. Joseph Jardin, came forward with an open-hearted offer for help. 'I will bear the expense of it. We make our money in China, and we should be glad to assist in whatever promises to be of benefit to it.' Dr. Legge accepted his help, and thus the first edition of Vol. I of the Classics was brought out in Hong Kong in 1861." ; Joseph Jardine died before publication of the first volume, but his brother Sir Robert Jardine continued the assistance ; extremely rare ; VG [This listing contains text in Chinese GB fonts].
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