WILLIAMS (Samuel Wells). A Tonic dictionary of the Chinese l - Lot 232

WILLIAMS (Samuel Wells). A Tonic dictionary of the Chinese language in the Canton dialect. Canton, Printed at the Office of the Chinese Repository, 1856. Large In-8, XXXVI-832 p., period brown half calf with corners, ribbed spine (defects including rubbed and browned spine, top cover almost detached, soiling in margins at end of vol.). Uncommon first edition. Samuel Wells Williams (1812 -1884) American linguist, missionary and sinologist sailed for China in 1833, to take charge of the printing office of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions founded in 1810 (the oldest Christian missionary organization in the United States) in Guangdong. From 1848 to 1851, Williams was editor of The Chinese Repository, a major Western newspaper in China. Williams was the first professor of Chinese language and literature in the United States at Yale University. Provenance: Lucien de Rosny (1810-1871), ethnologist and historian (armorial bookplate).