{"product_id":"1849-shanghai-printing-walter-medhurst-dissertation-on-the-silk-manufacture-and-the-cultivation-of-the-mulberry-translated-from-the-works-of-tseu-kwang-khe-called-also-paul-siu-a-colao-or-minister-of-state-in-china","title":"1849 Shanghai printing - Walter Medhurst - The Chinese Miscellany - Dissertation on the Silk-Manufacture, and the Cultivation of the Mulberry. Translated from the Works of Tseu-Kwang-K'He, Called also Paul Siu, a Colao, or Minister of State in China.","description":"\u003ch3 data-test-id=\"book-title\" class=\"affix-top\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"main-heading\"\u003eThe Chinese Miscellany Designed to Illustrate the Government, Philosophy, Religion, Arts, Manufactures, Trade, Manners, Customs, history and Statistics of China. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 data-test-id=\"book-title\" class=\"affix-top\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"main-heading\"\u003eNo III. On The Silk Manufacture and the Cultivation of the Mulberry.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"main-heading\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 data-test-id=\"book-title\" id=\"book-title\" class=\"affix-top\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"main-heading\"\u003eDissertation on the Silk-Manufacture, and the Cultivation of the Mulberry. Translated from the Works of Tseu-Kwang-K'He, Called also Paul Siu, a Colao, or Minister of State in China\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"main-heading\"\u003e-Walter Henry Medhurst (1796-1857)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"collectible-ref\" data-first=\"First editions by this author\" data-sgnd=\"Signed by this author\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e-Published at the Mission Press, \u003cspan id=\"book-publisher\"\u003eShanghai, 1849\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-20 x 13cm approx\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-Complete text with 16 illustrations\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-Retains original yellow wrappers (with repaired tear to lower corner).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-Generally very good condition - text clean with occasional foxing, repaired tear to original yellow wrappers. Some fading\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-Housed in high quality half leather Solander box with gold lettering to spine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThis work is the first English translation of material drawn from the Ming dynasty agricultural encyclopaedia \u003ci\u003eNongzheng quanshu\u003c\/i\u003e (“The Complete Book on Agriculture”) by Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), also known as Tseu-Kwang-K’He or Paul Siu. Published at a time when Protestant missionaries were actively engaging with Chinese intellectual and technical traditions, it offered European readers a rare and detailed account of Chinese silk manufacture and mulberry cultivation. As silk remained one of the most desirable and economically significant commodities in East–West trade — long contributing to Europe’s trade imbalance with China — such knowledge held both commercial and scholarly interest. The inclusion of sixteen woodblock illustrations, adapted from original Chinese sources, provided Western audiences with visual insight into traditional methods of silk production and agricultural practice.\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWalter Henry Medhurst was a British Protestant Missionary who spent much of his life in China. Having attended St Pauls school and the Hackney Theological College, he moved to Asia in 1819 - and would stay there for over 35 years until 1856. A talented linguist, Medhurst compiled dictionaries of Chinese, Japanese and Hokkien which were published in Macao and Batavia in the 1830s and 1840s. After the opening of Chinese treaty ports following the 1842 treaty of Nanking which concluded the Opium wars, he moved to Shanghai. In Shanghai he was instrumental in the output of the Shanghai Mission Press, publishing and translating linguistic material, theological tracts, and Chinese culturural material - including this Chinese tract on silk manufacture.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"publisher muted\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eCordier 1513. Lust 1237. not included in Löwendahl.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"De Bry Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56614151061882,"sku":null,"price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0624\/2969\/2075\/files\/PHOTO-2025-11-01-04-33-354.jpg?v=1771751714","url":"https:\/\/debryrarebooks.com\/products\/1849-shanghai-printing-walter-medhurst-dissertation-on-the-silk-manufacture-and-the-cultivation-of-the-mulberry-translated-from-the-works-of-tseu-kwang-khe-called-also-paul-siu-a-colao-or-minister-of-state-in-china","provider":"De Bry Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}