The Evolution of the Chinese Language: as exemplifying the origin and growth of human speech.
London: Trubner & Co, 1888. First edition. Hardcover. Edkins (1823-1905) was a British Protestant missionary who spent 57 years in China, 30 of them in Beijing. He wrote prolifically about Chinese language, Buddhism, and banking.
In his "China's Place in Philology" (1871), he tries to show that the languages of Europe and Asia have a common origin by comparing the Chinese and Indo-European vocabulary... In 1873, he traveled to England via the United States, and returned to Beijing in 1876. In 1880 he resigned from the London Missionary Society to become a translator for the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs. He was appointed by the Customs head to edit and translate a series of Western scientific works into Chinese, and the fruits were the 16 Primers for Western Knowledge published in 1898, which comprised textbooks about zoology, botany, chemistry, geography, physiology, logic and other subjects. In 1903 he survived typhoid and was still writing at the age of 81. He died in Shanghai on Easter Sunday, 1905. (Wikipedia)
OCLC Number: 654469577. 8vo, xvi, 96pp, folding appendix, 4pp adds. Publishers red cloth, black title and rule. Small burn on edge of back cover damages the board for 1" and slightly affects margins of some text. Booksellers label on inside cover of Kelly & Walsh Shanghai. Spine a little sunned with sml. insect damage. Overall, a pleasant copy. Good + overall. Item #26487
Price: $225.00