Chinese Sketches. London: Trubner, 1876

FIRST EDITION. Sinologist Herbert A. Giles began his distinguished career was a British diplomat in China. There he wrote these literary and historical sketches to show that, contrary to prevailing Western views, “the Chinese are a hardworking, sober, and happy people, occupying an intermediate place between the wealth and culture, the vice and misery of the West.” Giles later became professor of Chinese at Cambridge for thirty-five years.

$1,200

Chinese Novels, Translated from the Originals; to which are added Proverbs and Moral Maxims. London: John Murray, 1822

FIRST EDITION. This volume contains introductory “Observations on the Language and Literature of China” followed by “The Shadow in the Water,” “The Twin Sisters,” “The Three Dedicated Chambers,” and a selection of Chinese proverbs.

$900

Two book auction catalogues: (DENT, JOHN.) Catalogue of the Splendid, Curious, and Extensive Library of the Late John Dent, Esq. … sold by auction by Mr. Evans (1827). [bound with] (WILLIAMS, THEODORE.) A Catalogue of the Splendid and Valuable Library of the Rev. Theodore Williams … sold by auction, by Messrs. Stewart, Wheatley, and Adlard (1827). London: Evans [and Stewart, Wheatley, and Adlard], 1827

These catalogues from the golden age of English book collecting are filled with landmark early printed books, books printed on vellum, illuminated manuscripts, and more. The Dent library contained “numerous volumes of the greatest beauty, several illuminated manuscripts, … other books printed on vellum” (De Ricci, English Collectors of Books and Manuscripts). Both auction catalogues are fully priced in manuscript with prices realized and buyer names.

$900

Chinese Currency. Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1901

FIRST EDITION of this standard work on the history of Chinese currency. Edkins was a British Sinologist and Protestant missionary who spent 57 years in China, 30 of them in Beijing.

$700

The Psychological Portrait: Marcel Sternberger’s Revelations in Photography. Foreword by Phillip Prodger.. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2016

First edition, one of 100 copies of the Deluxe Estate Edition, signed and numbered by the author and accompanied by your choice of one of four 8 x 10 inch archival pigment photographs (Einstein, Freud, Shaw, or Kahlo).

$165

Printing and the Mind of Man: a descriptive catalogue illustrating the impact of print on the evolution of western civilization during five centuries. Munich: Pressler, 1983

SECOND EDITION, revised and enlarged.

$125