HEDIN, Sven - CONRADY, August.

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Die Chinesischen Handschriften-und Sonstigen Kleinfunde Sven Hedins in Lou-Lan ("The Chinese Manuscripts and Other Finds of Sven Hedin in Lou Lan"). First edition, first printing, uncommon in the original wrappers, of this illustrated transcription and translation of important manuscripts unearthed by Sven Hedin during his second expedition to Central Asia. Compiled by a prominent German sinologist, the work supplements Hedin's famous eight-volume account of the expedition and contains plates which "were of the highest standards of the day and and still appear extremely clear" (Shaughnessy, p. 264).During his expedition, Hedin spent a week in 1901 exploring the site of the ancient city of Loulan in Xinjiang. There, he discovered a trove of ancient manuscripts dating from the third or fourth centuries CE. While compiling his monumental Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia 1899-1902, published between 1904 and 1907, Hedin engaged the German sinologist Karl Himly to write a section on archaeology for Volume VI based on the Loulan manuscripts.After Himly's untimely death in 1904 aged 68, August Conrady, then Professor of Chinese at the University of Leipzig, took over the project, finishing it in 1920 after a prolonged editorial process which included a year spent pouring over the manuscripts with the eminent Chinese scholar Cai Yuanpei. The final work includes full transcriptions and translations of 35 paper documents and 121 texts inscribed on wooden strips.Conrady (

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