Dialogues and Detached Sentences in the Chinese Language;

by MORRISON, Robert.

$12,500 · Offered by Biblio

First edition

Macao: Printed at the Honorable East India Company's Press, by P. P. Thoms,, 1816. Helping Canton's merchants talk the talk First edition of this scarce early Macao imprint. Robert Morrison (1782-1834) was "the chief person who opened to his countrymen the road to the knowledge of the language of China" (ODNB), and his writings are cornerstones of any China library. Morrison joined the London Missionary Society in 1804 and sailed for Canton in early 1807. He initially faced opposition from the East India Company and the Portuguese authorities in Macao, so chose to live and conduct linguistic research secretly among American merchants. A transformation in the company's attitude provided the funding needed to print his A Grammar of the Chinese Language (1815), these Dialogues, and his landmark Chinese dictionary (1815-23). After serving as interpreter to Lord Amherst's abortive mission to Peking, Morrison returned to Britain in 1824, bringing with him a substantial library, which became the core of the collection at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Writing for Western merchants and their staff, he provides conversations suitable to common commercial and social situations. These allow the western student of Chinese to grasp commercial politeness ("If I buy dear, I shall loose [sic] instead of making any thing by it"), social chit-chat ("Had you a pleasant journey?"), and even flattery ("Your goodness, lofty as the mountain, and immense as the ocean, forms part of myse

• Year: 1816
• Edition: First Edition
• Binding: hardcover

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