First edition of the first English translation of the Zhuangzi, one of the foundational texts of Taoism. The present translation played a key role in the cultural exchange between the East and West in the 19th century. As the text is notoriously difficult to translate into Western languages, Balfour's efforts are all the more impressive. Despite its importance, however, the present work is quite rare on the market, as we have only been able to find 4 other copies in sales records of the past 100 years.
The Zhuangzi is one of the greatest works of literature from the classical Chinese canon. It was written by the important Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou (or Chuang Tsu, ca. 369-286 BCE) and his students. The work contains parables, fables, allegories, and anecdotes, which together teach the principles of Taoist philosophy. It originally consisted of 52 chapters, but was heavily edited in the first century BCE, and shortened to 33 chapters, which are all present here. Chapter 1-7 are usually called the "inner chapters", chapters 8-22 the "outer chapters", and chapters 23-33 the "miscellaneous chapters". The inner chapters, which were possibly written by Zhou himself, are considered the most important part of the work. They contain some of the most famous passages, such as the butterfly dream in chapter 2. The other chapters were likely written by his students and others, but scholars are still divided about the exact attributions.
Frederic Henry Balfour (1846-1909) was a British author, religious scholar, and sinologist, who lived in Shanghai. He wrote many articles and essays on contemporary China during a time when little credible news about the country reached the West. He also translated 11 Taoist texts into English, which made him the sinologist with the largest number of English translations of Taoist scriptures in his time. Because some of these text are so difficult to translate, Balfour added notes with explanations of his choices, making his work incredibly valuable for readers and scholars alike.
The boards are somewhat rubbed, the edges and corners of the boards are somewhat scuffed and bumped, the front joint is weakened at the foot. The work is lightly foxed throughout, a brown stain on page 183. Otherwise in good condition. BMC General 2, p. 221, col. 600; Jisc (8 copies in British libraries); cf. Zhao, Z., "A study of Balfours English translation of the Zhuangzi in light of comparative religion", in: Humanities and social sciences communications 11 (1604), 2024.