The Chinese Government. A Manual of Chinese Titles, Categorically Arranged and Explained, with an Appendix -
William Frederick Mayers, revised by G.M.H, Playfair, H.B.M. Consul, Ningpo
1897 - Kelly &, Shanghai - Third Edition
A rare example of this detailed work on the inner workings of China’s complex administrative network, by one of the foremost Chinese scholars of the period.
This work became a standard reference for consulates (this copy being formerly owned by the German Consulate in Nanking and then Shanghai), as well as merchants and those translating Chinese texts and edicts. William Frederick Mayers (1831–1878), was born in Tasmania. where his father was colonial chaplain, but received the chief part of his education at Marseilles where his father was then posted. After spending some years as a journalist in New York, Mayers in 1859 went to China as a student-interpreter, accompanying Lord Elgin to Pekin, and, after serving as interpreter to the allied commission charged with the government of Canton, was appointed interpreter to the consulate there. He filled various consular posts at Chinese ports until 1872, when he was made Chinese secretary of legation at Pekin. ‘Mayers [fell] fatally ill with typhus fever at Shanghai in 1878, en route from Peking where he was Chinese Secretary, to take leave in Britain. He was an ‘excellent Chinese scholar, a fluent and polished writer, and an indefatigable worker’, in the words of the North China Herald, part of whose legacy was this training manual for newcomers to the Chinese language and the Qing political system.’ [Bickers]
Mayers’ works are monuments 'of his industry and the completeness of his knowledge. Included in his works were: 'The Anglo-Chinese Calendar Manual’, 'The Chinese Reader's Manual’, 'Treaties between the Empire of China and Foreign Powers', 'The Chinese Government’, In 1867, with N. B. Dennys and Lieutenant Charles King, he wrote 'The Treaty Ports of China,' and in 1877 translated the 'Pekin Gazette' for that year. His official report on 'The Famine in the Northern Provinces of China' was published as a parliamentary paper. In 1861 he became fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; he was also a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, to whose 'Journal' in 1869 he contributed a paper on the 'Lamaist Septem in Tibet.' He was a constant contributor to periodical publications, especially the 'China Review,' published at Shanghai, and rendered valuable service to the British Museum by procuring for its library one of the few existing copies of the 'Imperial Encyclopedia of Chinese Literature' in 5,020 volumes.
‘Mayers [fell] fatally ill at Shanghai in 1878, en route from Peking where he was Chinese Secretary, to take leave in Britain. He was an ‘excellent Chinese scholar, a fluent and polished writer, and an indefatigable worker’, in the words of the North China Herald, part of whose legacy was this training manual for newcomers to the Chinese language and the Qing political system.’ [Bickers]
Provenance: The German Consulate - with stamps from their Nanking and Shanghai consulates to the front free endpaper and title page. Later from the collection of the late Hong Kong historian Robert Bickers.
Reference: https://robertbickers.net/2013/04/05/narrow-maxims-of-antiquity-who-owned-my-books-part-2-mayers-the-chinese-government/.
Octavo (binding size 25x16.7cm), pp. [2] vi [4] 196. Bound in contemporary half burgundy over matching pebbled boards, re-spined to style with gilt lettering and rule. Condition: Very good, toning to pages, more so to endpapers, light foxing, wear to corners of recently re-backed binding. Ref: 112039 Price: HK$ 16,000
This work became a standard reference for consulates (this copy being formerly owned by the German Consulate in Nanking and then Shanghai), as well as merchants and those translating Chinese texts and edicts. William Frederick Mayers (1831–1878), was born in Tasmania. where his father was colonial chaplain, but received the chief part of his education at Marseilles where his father was then posted. After spending some years as a journalist in New York, Mayers in 1859 went to China as a student-interpreter, accompanying Lord Elgin to Pekin, and, after serving as interpreter to the allied commission charged with the government of Canton, was appointed interpreter to the consulate there. He filled various consular posts at Chinese ports until 1872, when he was made Chinese secretary of legation at Pekin. ‘Mayers [fell] fatally ill with typhus fever at Shanghai in 1878, en route from Peking where he was Chinese Secretary, to take leave in Britain. He was an ‘excellent Chinese scholar, a fluent and polished writer, and an indefatigable worker’, in the words of the North China Herald, part of whose legacy was this training manual for newcomers to the Chinese language and the Qing political system.’ [Bickers]
Mayers’ works are monuments 'of his industry and the completeness of his knowledge. Included in his works were: 'The Anglo-Chinese Calendar Manual’, 'The Chinese Reader's Manual’, 'Treaties between the Empire of China and Foreign Powers', 'The Chinese Government’, In 1867, with N. B. Dennys and Lieutenant Charles King, he wrote 'The Treaty Ports of China,' and in 1877 translated the 'Pekin Gazette' for that year. His official report on 'The Famine in the Northern Provinces of China' was published as a parliamentary paper. In 1861 he became fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; he was also a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, to whose 'Journal' in 1869 he contributed a paper on the 'Lamaist Septem in Tibet.' He was a constant contributor to periodical publications, especially the 'China Review,' published at Shanghai, and rendered valuable service to the British Museum by procuring for its library one of the few existing copies of the 'Imperial Encyclopedia of Chinese Literature' in 5,020 volumes.
‘Mayers [fell] fatally ill at Shanghai in 1878, en route from Peking where he was Chinese Secretary, to take leave in Britain. He was an ‘excellent Chinese scholar, a fluent and polished writer, and an indefatigable worker’, in the words of the North China Herald, part of whose legacy was this training manual for newcomers to the Chinese language and the Qing political system.’ [Bickers]
Provenance: The German Consulate - with stamps from their Nanking and Shanghai consulates to the front free endpaper and title page. Later from the collection of the late Hong Kong historian Robert Bickers.
Reference: https://robertbickers.net/2013/04/05/narrow-maxims-of-antiquity-who-owned-my-books-part-2-mayers-the-chinese-government/.
Octavo (binding size 25x16.7cm), pp. [2] vi [4] 196. Bound in contemporary half burgundy over matching pebbled boards, re-spined to style with gilt lettering and rule. Condition: Very good, toning to pages, more so to endpapers, light foxing, wear to corners of recently re-backed binding. Ref: 112039 Price: HK$ 16,000