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Lot 36

CHINESE GRAMMAR.
REMUSAT, JEAN-PIERRE (ABEL). 1788-1832.
Elemens de la grammaire chinoise, ou, Principes generaux du kou-wen ou style antique, et du kouan-hoa. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1822.

11 December 2020, 10:00 EST
New York

US$2,000 - US$3,000

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CHINESE GRAMMAR.

REMUSAT, JEAN-PIERRE (ABEL). 1788-1832. Elemens de la grammaire chinoise, ou, Principes generaux du kou-wen ou style antique, et du kouan-hoa. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1822.
8vo (230 x 155 mm). 2 folding plates and innumerable Chinese characters executed in woodcut throughout. Contemporary quarter calf with the original yellow front wrapper bound in. Rubbed, lower joint starting, scattered browning.

FIRST EDITION of this early Chinese grammar book which features both Literary Chinese and Mandarin. It was a major achievement of Chinese philology in the early 19th century, as well as being one of the earliest successful books with movable Chinese and Roman types. The folding lithograph plates were executed by Charles Philibert de Lasteyrie de Saillant.
Rémusat, along with Julius Klaproth, is recognized as one of the founders of modern Oriental scholarship in the West. In 1811 he produced an Essai sur la langue de la literature chinoise, and a paper on foreign languages among the Chinese, which procured him the patronage of Silvestre de Sacy. In 1814 a chair of Chinese was founded at the College de France for Rémusat, after which he specialized in languages of the Far East, publishing a series of classic works. His contributions from Chinese sources to the history of the Tatar nations claim special notice. Brunet IV, 1216; Lust 1027; Walravens, China Illustrata, p 269. Not in Cordier.

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