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An uncommon bilingual edition of the four canonical works at the heart of Confucianism: the Analects, Mencius, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean. This translation, first published in 1755, was sponsored by the munificent Qianlong emperor - China's Louis XIV - and thought to surpass the work of all previous exegetes. WorldCat records just over a dozen copies of different Qing dynasty editions, with only three located in the United Kingdom (SOAS, Cambridge and Leeds). The Four Books of Confucianism were first translated into Manchu in the 1640s and 1650s by Asitan and Miao Cheng, two scholar-officials working at the behest of the Qing court. The first full translation appeared under Miao's direction in 1654, but in the Qianlong era (1735-1796), in the words of a contemporary essayist, "the way of the sage kings. reappeared in the unified mind of the emperor" (Crossley, p. 230). For Qianlong, "translating China's classic texts became an important way to master the art of dominion over a large empire and a crucial means of disseminating this political worldview to subordinates" (Xu, p. 70). Under Qianlong's fiat, Ortai (1680-1745), the most powerful official in the imperial court, supervised the revision of former Manchu translations of the Four Books to remedy many inaccuracies, adopt more explanatory vocabulary, and align the result with the linguistic evolution of Manchu during the preceding century. The project, completed and published in 1755, was to become the standard against which future Manchu translations of important philosophical and literary texts came to be judged. Several editions of this translation were produced in the second half of the Qing dynasty after the printing of the first in 1755. The printer of the present copy, the Ju zhen tang, was one of several important printers located in the vicinity of Beijing's famous Longfu temple. Another, the San huai tang shu fang, printed an edition during the Daoguang era (1820-1850). Pamela Kyle Crossley, A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology, 2002; Xu Li, "Qianlong chao qinding sishu wujing manwen chong yi gaoben yanjiu", Minzu fanyi, no. 74 (2020), pp. 62-70. 6 vols, octavo (246 x 155 mm). Original paper wrappers, renewed xianzhuang-style white stitching, spine ends reinforced with white silk. Housed in original blue cloth folding case with title label and bone clasps. Contemporary red seal script chops on first leaf of each volume and case title label. Covers lightly chipped and creased with several old paper repairs to front cover of vol. I, some loss to white silk reinforcements, occasional foxing internally, text sharp. A very good copy of this fragile publication in like case with soiling and wear to cloth, more significant loss at foot of spine panel, slight wear to title label, lining split at folds, unusually retaining both clasps. Inkstamp, residue of bookseller's ticket and overlaid recent bookseller's ticket on inner panel, minor traces of another label on inner lining.
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