Author: MEDHURST, WALTER HENRY:
Title: A Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language, According to the Reading and Colloquial Idioms: Containing about 12,000 characters, the sounds and tones of which are accurately marked: - And various examples of their use, taken generally from approved Chinese authors. Accompanied by a short historical and statistical account of Hok-këèn; a treatise on the orthography of the Hok-këèn Dialect, necessary indexes, &c. Macao, China, printed at the Honourable East India Company's Press, by J. Steyn and Brothers, 1832 [-37].
Description: . Folio. Pp. (vi), v-lxiv, 1-308, 308- 319, 321-860, wide margins. Text in Chinese and English. Paper very brittle, some leaves chipped at the edges, two leaves with repairs but no text is missing. Modern marbled paper covered boards, calf spine with five raised bands, gilt, green title label. First edition, limited to 300 copies (Löwendahl), of the first published dictionary of the Hokkien dialect of Chinese. Medhurst (1796-1857), was an English missionary who arrived at Malacca in 1817, becoming responsible for the printing press there. In 1842 he moved to Shanghai where he was one of the founders of the London Missionary Society Press. Medhurst's principal work for many years was in the translation of the Bible into Chinese, together with Charles Gützlaff, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, and John Robert Morrison. The missionaries compiled grammars and dictionaries to learn the Chinese language and adapted the Latin alphabet to represent Chinese pronounciation, and arranged the dictionaries accordingly. The printing of this rare dictionary started as early as 1831 but was delayed several times and was finally completed in 1837. A handsome copy of a remarkable work. Cordier BS 1596-97. Löwendahl 920. Zenker BO ii, 6647.

Keywords: East Asia, china, chine, kina, chinese, asia, asie, asien, asiatic, travel, exploration, language, langue, linguistic


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