GAUBIL, ANTOINE / DE GUIGNES, JOSEPH (Translators): - Le Chou-King, un des livres sacrés des chinois. Qui renferme les fondements de leur ancienne histoire, les principes de leur gouvernement & de leur morale; ouvrage recueilli par Confucius. Traduit & enrichi de notes, par Feu le P. Gaubil, missionaire à la Chine. Revu & corrigé sur le texte chinois, accompagné de nouvelles notes, de planches gravées en taille-douce & additions tirées des historiens originaux, dans lesquelles on donne l'histoire des princes omis dans le Chou-king. Paris, N.M. Tilliard, 1770.

. 4to. Pp. (iv), cxliv, 474, (2). With 4 engraved plates (redrawn from those presented in the Chinese editions of the Book of Documents as De Guignes found them in the Royal Library). Small piece of paper pasted to half title, to cover library stamp. Contemporary calf, rebacked with original spine preserved, spine with five raised bands decorated in gilt and with title label, hinges cracked, marbled end papers, r.e. This is the first published translation of the Book of Documents (Shu-ching), and also the first of the Five Classics on Confucianism to be translated into an European language. The basis for the translation was a manuscript which had been sent from Peking by Antoine Gaubil. However De Guignes corrected the translation based on the Chinese original which was found in the Royal Library. He also filled in missing pages and extended it with his own notes. Contains a "Discours préliminaire" including a treatise on the early history of the Chinese written by J.H. Prémare and here amended and commented by De Guignes. Includes also: "Notice du livre chinois nommé Y-king, ou livre canonique des changemens, avec des notes" by Claude Visdelou (pp. 399 - 436). Cordier BS 1376-77. Lust 727. Walravens, China illustrata, 136.

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