Rev Robert Morrison (4 results)

Newspaper. 16p., folded tabloid underground newspaper, photos, comics, art, articles, reviews, news, local ads, very lightly toned else very good on newsprint. S.F.'s main political underground paper. Cover photo of little hippie girl smoking a joint and more by Altman in the centerspread of hippies at Hippie Hill. The National Guard, Copstoppers Notebook, Van Morrison at the Avalon which included Big Brother and the Holding Company's last SF gig supported by Santana both bands criticized by the reporter, Living Theatre in Berkeley etc.

First edition, 4to (280 x 220 mm), vi, [2], 280pp., with the errata leaf, parallel title transliterated from the Chinese characters, some occasional light staining and age-toning to text, minor water-stain to fore-edge of last few leaves, but in general text is bright and clean, endpapers renewed, later brick red buckram, gilt title direct to spine, uncut. Reverend Robert Morrison (1782-1834) was an evangelist and the first Christian Protestant missionary in China. This, his first publication, was the first work in English on the Chinese language. Having arrived in Canton in 1807 and was working as a translator for the East India Company by 1809. Morrison's knowledge of Cantonese and Mandarin had a role in helping to facilitate trade between China and the West -- he acted as interpreter on Lord Amherst's Embassy to Peking in 1816, later publishing his own account of the abortive mission, and in 1834 was appointed Chinese Secretary and Interpreter to Lord Napier, Superintendent for Trade with China. Cordier Sinica, 1661-1662; Khan, 76; Lowendahl, 782; Lust, 1023.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First edition. H.C. vi, [2], 280 p. 28.3x22.5 cm. Presumed original binding, re-backed, some wormholing, a little chipping/wear to extremities, and general faint stains. Repairs to endpaper gutters by ex-owner. Ex-ownership inscriptions, a little soiling, and a 3.5 cm tear to the title page. Slight crack to gutter of errata. Occasional interesting marginal notes, mostly in pencil (`Mr. Chang says many mistakes in this`), minor marks and browning to contents, a little chipping to extremities. A clear and bright printing, and one of only 500 copies of the first edition printed in 1815 at the Serampore Mission Press. Printed using fine Chinese and English movable metal type cut by missionary and printer John Lawson. Preface dated April 2, 1811. A first edition of the first book in English written on Chinese grammar, by Robert Morrison (1782-1834), the first Protestant missionary to China. Morrison, considered largely responsible for introducing Western printing with movable metal type to China, is perhaps best known today for his Chinese translations of the Bible and his comprehensive Chinese dictionary. His lesser-known `Grammar` was written to help Westerners (and more specifically, missionaries) with the basics of Chinese. Published slightly before his dictionary, in 500 copies, it is considered today `an important work in the history of missionary activity in China` [Ma, 2015]. Morrison purportedly started work on his `Grammar` in 1807, and completed the manuscript in 1811, sending it off to Joshua Marshman at the Serampore Mission Press in India for printing soon afterwards. After a miscellany of dubious delays and a four year wait on Morrison`s part, it was finally printed in 1815, a year after Marshman had printed his own grammar book (`Elements of Chinese Grammar`) on the same press making Morrison's Grammar the first written book on Chinese grammar in English, but not the first published. Whether Marshman copied Morrison`s work or not remains a highly contended issue amongst scholars of missionary history and the Chinese language, many of whom share the view that `it is very hard to believe that Marshman had not consulted Morrison's manuscript during the period of about a year before his book was published` [Su, 1996]. Morrison, justifiably, was furious that after waiting four years for his book to be printed, Marshman, to whom he had sent his manuscript and who ran the press, had decided to publish his own book on the same topic first. In a letter to the directors of the press Morrison complained that Marshman`s text was `a Grammar, compiled chiefly from mine, which [Marshman] kept lying by him in MS. whilst he took the substance of it, dressed it up, with other examples, and a few alterations, and gave it to the world as his own` [Su, 1996]. Nevertheless Morrison`s book, covering verbs, nouns, numbers, pronouns, syntax, provincial dialects, etc., was a hit, and was considered by his contemporaries `a valuable work short and comprehensive` [Lowndes, 1834].

First edition. 4to. English text interspersed with Chinese characters. Bound in late 19th century vellum (warped), damaged end-papers, a few very minor marginal tears, but overall very good inside. [vi], 141pp. Macao, P. P. Thoms,  "The materials contained in this small volume, were at first intended to be attached to the Chinese Dictionary, printing by order of the Honorable East India Company, and to be bound up with it. However, as subjects of frequent reference, they will probably be more convenient, printed in the present form, and bound up by themselves." (Preface). This is an interesting and wide-ranging overview of China, that often says as much about the author as it does about the country. The section on geography gives an "outline of the Empire of the Man-chow family", new dependant nations, and tribute-states; the chapter on the government states the names of institutions, officers, and ranks; and in the final chapter headed 'Conclusion' he ends with the following question: "Love to one's own country is perfectly compatible with benevolent feelings to all mankind; and the prosperity of this nation, with the prosperity of that. It seems quite a mistake to think that attachment to one's own People is manifested by a violent dislike of others. - Will the day ever come when the various Tribes of men shall live together like Brothers?" (p. 125).   Morrison joined the London Missionary Society in 1804 eventually arriving in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1807 where he was appointed translator to the East India Company. His efforts in bringing a genuinely new perspective on China, and one that was not driven by commercial instincts, cannot be overstated. The work was printed by Peter P. Thoms (1791-1855) at the East India Company Press in Macao, at a time when a Portuguese  ban on printing in their eastern territories was still in force. In Macao it was only lifted in 1820 (possibly due to the fact that the British had ignored the ban??). This book was printed using movable Chinese type that had been cast in Macao.  Cordier, Sinica 65; Löwendahl, China illustrata nova 793; Lust 126. Lust 126; Löwendahl 793. .