“The Greatest Single Achievement of Western Sinological Scholarship
During the Nineteenth Century”–ODNB

LEGGE, James.

The Chinese Classics. With a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and Copious Indexes.

Folding maps. Five vols. in four. Large thick 8vo, cont. half-sheep & cloth-covered boards, spines lettered in gilt. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1893-95-[1939]-[1939]-1872 [& on verso of all titles, “Hong Kong: Printed at the London Missionary Society’s Printing Office, Reprinted in China, 1939”].

A complete set and in fine condition; this work remains much used today by the scholarly community. Legge (1815-97), Sinologist, wrote this work while a missionary living in Hong Kong. “His greatest and most lasting contribution to transcultural understanding was his massive translation Chinese Classics (first edition, 7 vols., 1861–72; second edition, 5 vols., partially ‘revised’, 1893–5). This bravely conceived and meticulously executed work was the greatest single achievement of Western Sinological scholarship during the nineteenth century and, though dated in style, remained the standard English version of these texts even in the late twentieth century.”–ODNB.

Price: $1,500.00

Item ID: 7803