The Works of Confucius; containing The Original Text, With a Translation. By J[oshua]. Marshman.

First edition of this translation of the first ten books of the Analects, the first time any part of the text was directly translated into English, and one of the first books printed at the influential missionary press in Serampore. Marshman (1768-1837) moved to Serampore in 1806 to study Chinese under the tutelage of Professor Hovhannes Ghazarian. He planned this work to be the first in a five-volume series covering the Confucian canon, but no further volumes were completed, Marshman turning his attention to translating the Bible into Chinese. As referenced on the title page, he prefixed The Works of Confucius with A Dissertation on the Chinese Language and Character, but the dissertation was issued separately and is not included here. Provenance: inscribed by Robert Wilson (1803-1882), an engineer and inventor, on the title page, to Lady Elma Bruce, 25 February 1862. Bruce (1842-1923) had connections to the Far East through her father, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, who served as governor of Jamaica and Canada and then as special envoy to China during the Second Opium War. In all of Elgin's postings, "the same decisiveness and diplomatic skill are apparent. But it is perhaps the unusual degree to which he sympathized with the Chinese he encountered and perceived the difficulties of a decadent empire that was most remarkable" (Dictionary of Canadian Biography). With Wilson's signature on the first blank and his inverted bookplate on the rear pastedown. Cordier 1404; Löwendahl 743; Lust 738. Quarto (265 x 208 mm), pp. vi, 4, xxxix, [1] (blank), 725, [1] (blank), 17, [1] (blank). Contemporary half calf, raised bands ruled in gilt, dark green label, compartments stamped in gilt with tool of central lozenge and four foliate triangles, gilt rolls, marbled sides and edges. Bookplate of Charles Sarolea (1870-1953), Belgian philologist. Boards sometime transposed, spine, joints, and corners repaired, gilt and colour retouched in places, closed tear (postscript, p. 10) repaired with Japanese tissue, final leaves with horizontal indentation: very good.…