THOM, Robert (trans.).

£5,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Wang Keaoü Lwan Pih Nëen Chang Han; Or, The lasting resentment of Miss Keaou Lwan Wang, a Chinese Tale: Founded on Fact. First edition, inscribed by the author's brother on the title page, "To the Honble. The Societies of the Inner and Middle Temple, from D. Thom, 1848." Robert Thom here translates an autobiographical story, written by the 16th-century poet Wang Jiaoluan, telling of her lover's betrayal and her decision to commit suicide to guarantee his punishment under the law. The work quickly became a moral classic.Thom (1807-1846) honed his Chinese skills while working for Jardine, Matheson and acted as a translator for British forces during the First Opium War (1839-42) and at the 1843 supplementary treaty negotiations. He produced a number of well-respected translations, including the first edition in Chinese of Aesop's fables. Wang Keaoü Lwan Pih Nëen Chang Han was published in Canton under his pseudonym, "Sloth." As here, copies shipped for distribution in Britain were issued with printed overslips on the front wrapper giving his full name and a supplementary imprint ("London: Ball, Arnold, & Co., Paternoster Row, 1840").This copy is in the binding of the Middle Temple Library and has its 19th-century ink stamp on the front wrapper, title page, and a couple of other leaves, as well as a more recent deaccession stamp on page 66. Reverend David Thom (1795-1862) trained for a career in the law but became a universalist minister. Further inscriptions in his hand state th

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