Confucius Sinarum Philosophus, sive Scientia Sinensis Latine Exposita.: Studio & Opera Prosperi Intorcetta, Christiani Herdtrich, Francisci Rougemont, Philippi Couplet, Patrum Societatis Jesu. Jussu Ludovici Magni… Adjecta est Tabula Chronologica Sinicæ Monarchiæ ab Hufus exordio ad hec Usque Tempora.

Paris: [Andreas Cramoisy] for Daniel Horthemels,, 1687. The peak of Jesuit Sinology in the seventeenth century" - the first European translation of Confucius First edition of the influential first European translation of three of the four canonical books of Confucianism - the Analects, Great Learning and Doctrine of the Mean, complete with Philippe Couplet's Tabula Chronologica Sinicae Monarchiae, listing Chinese kings from BCE 2952 to 1683 CE. The engraved portrait of Confucius was the first to be published in the West. "The Confucius Sinarum Philosophus was widely reviewed in Europe and today is recognized as one of the most influential texts in the Jesuit transmission of Chinese culture to Europe" (China on Paper, p. 173). The book opens with a dedication to Louis XIV, followed by the "Proemialis Declaratio" (Introductory Exposition), a lengthy discussion of Confucianism. Following the "Declaratio" is a portrait of Confucius and a biography based on the Kongzi shijia found in Sima Qian. The translations of each of the three texts, together with excerpts from attendant commentaries, are separated into three books under the heading "Scientiae Sinicae". The work ends with Couplet's lengthy tables (with a separate title page) and a map, engraved by François de Louvemont (b. 1648), showing the 15 regions of the Chinese empire, 155 cities, and the location of Christian missions. The present work was the leading influence on European understanding of Confucianism and Chinese philosophy until the translations completed in the 19th century by James Legge and others. "For more than two hundred years, Western intellectuals like Leibnitz and Voltaire read and meditated on the words of Confucius from this Latin version, which generated an abundant production of translations, commentaries, and essays in many Western languages... The Sinarum Philosophus represents the peak of Jesuit Sinology in the seventeenth century" (Meynard, pp. 1 and 18). Folio (340 x 216 mm). Contemporary calf, recent red spine label lettered to style in gilt, raised bands, compartments bordered by paired gilt fillets enclosing ornate frames and centre-pieces of foliate lozenges, marbled edges. Engraved portrait of Confucius and engraved map of China, both for Jean Nolin; engraved French royal arms on title page and at head of dedication, wood-engraved head- and tailpieces, tables in text. Binding expertly and judiciously restored, spine tooling extensively retouched, inner hinges consolidated, contents well-preserved with occasional foxing, faint staining, and toning, engravings pleasingly unshaved: a very good copy. China on Paper 17; Cordier (2nd edition), pp. 1389-93; Löwendahl 183; Lust 724. Thierry Meynard, The Jesuit Reading of Confucius: The First Complete Translation of the Lunyu (1687) Published in the West, 2015.