Premari Notitia Linguae sinicae. Ex Apographo, Ipsius Premari manu emendato, quod In Bibliotheca Regia Parisiensi servatuo, Accurate descripsit Stanislaus Julien.

A$62,500 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

[circa 1825]. Folio, modern full vellum binding by Aquarius; p. 466, [3 blank]; manuscript in ink entirely in the hand of Stanislas Julien; in Latin and Chinese, the Chinese characters written from left to right; title-page with wet-stamped monogram of sinologist Marquis d Hervey de Saint-Denys (1822-1892), his manuscript collection label preserved on rear endpaper; tear to second (blank) leaf, else exceptionally well preserved throughout; loosely enclosed is the dedication leaf removed from a copy of the first edition (Malacca : Anglo-Chinese College, 1831). One of only three manuscript copies of Prémare s Notitia Linguae sinicae made prior to its first publication in 1831. The original manuscript of Prémare s Notitia Linguae sinicae entered the collection of the Bibliothèque Royale, Paris, in 1730. Almost a century later, a few years prior to its first publication, three manuscript copies of the original were made. Two of these were done by Stanislas Julien. The first of Julien s copies was acquired by the missionary and sinologist Robert Morrison, President of the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca. Morrison presented his copy to the College in 1826, and Prémare s work was finally published at the College s press in 1831, the printing having been funded by an anonymous patron honoured in the text of the dedication. The College s manuscript later passed into the collection of missionary Alexander Wylie, of Shanghai. Julien s second copy (offered here) entered the collection o

• Binding: Hardcover

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