DAVIS, John Francis.

£8,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Poeseos Sinensis Commentarii. On the Poetry of the Chinese, (From the Royal Asiatic Transactions) to Which Are Added, Translations & Detached Pieces. First Chinese edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the future governor of Hong Kong at the head of the title page, "The Revd. W. Dealtry, D.D., from the author." Dealtry, a fellow of the Royal Society from 1811, joined George Thomas Staunton, Malthus, and eight others in successfully proposing Davis for membership in 1822.A considered analysis, Poeseos Sinensis Commentarii promotes the aesthetic merits of Chinese poetry in the face of European and American bias and allowed the author to demonstrate his "vast knowledge of classical Chinese and profound academic expertise" (Lan, p. 28). It was read to the Royal Asiatic Society on 2 May 1829 and printed in London soon after. Published five years later, this Macao edition also incorporates previously unpublished material: Davis's recollections of the 1816 Amherst embassy to Beijing and two examples of his prodigious scholarly output. In the last five decades, only one copy of the 1829 edition and one other example of this edition are recorded in commerce.Having joined the East India Company in 1813 as a writer based in Canton, Davis's linguistic abilities earned him a place in Lord Amherst's ultimately unsuccessful delegation. He carved out a reputation as a formidable scholar of Chinese, publishing literary translations in 1817 and 1822 and a Chinese lexicon in 1824. After furt

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