WILLIAMS (Samuel Wells). A Syllabic dictionary of the Chines - Lot 231

WILLIAMS (Samuel Wells). A Syllabic dictionary of the Chinese language, arranged according to the Wu-fang yuen yin, with the pronunciation of the characters as heard in Peking, Canton, Amoy and Shanghai. Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1874. In-4, LXXXIV-1252 p. with 3 columns, tables, errata, period red Russian half-leather with corners, spine decorated with nerves (edges rubbed). Rare first edition of this bilingual syllabic dictionary of the Chinese language, with pronunciation of characters heard in Peking, Canton, Amoy and Shanghai and, in addition to Mandarin, Chinese variants of Middle Chinese and four regional varieties of Chinese, all distributed in 10,940 keyword entries, arranged alphabetically under 522 syllables; compiled by the American Samuel Wells Williams (1812-1884) sinologist, Protestant missionary to China, lexicographer, professor of Chinese at Yale University. Red Asian stamp on title repeated.