HAGER (Joseph). Monument de Yu, ou la plus ancienne inscript - Lot 92

HAGER (Joseph). Monument de Yu, ou la plus ancienne inscription de la Chine, suivie de trente-deux formes d'anciens caractères chinois A Paris, chez Treuttel et Würtz, an X-1802. Large folio, [1] f., 12 p. [2] f., 33 plates, modern boards with printed label on upper cover (tear with loss of a letter on label on upper cover, some marginal soiling). First edition of the first book published in France by the philologist Joseph Hager (1750-1819). It was printed using Chinese characters engraved by Fourmont. The inscription was set by Emperor Yu (c. 2300 BC) to celebrate the reflux of swamps caused by torrential rains. The text of the inscription was found by Hager in the Great Japanese Encyclopedia, and he was able to collate the text on two reproductions of the latter held at the Bibliothèque Nationale. The French translation of the inscription is by the Jesuit Amiot (1718-1794), who spent most of his life as a missionary in China. (Cordier I, 68, reports only 29 plates; Lust 987, 32 plates).