Fourmont, Etienne (1683-1745).

folio (336 x 225mm.), [12 (including half-title)], xl, iv, 516, [4 ('Lettre de Monseigneur l'Evesque d'Ecriné, Vicaire Apostolique du Yûn nân')] pp., two folding tables of Chinese characters at pp. 7 & 309, illustration: xylographic Chinese characters in text (including 4 large characters on verso of half-title), woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, binding: contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments

Lust 1011; Cordier, Sinica 1659-1660

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

first edition. As a student, the French orientalist Etienne Fourmont learnt Greek, Hebrew and Arabic, and became in 1715 professor of Arabic, and later professor of Hebrew, at the Collège de France. In 1711 he was introduced to a young Chinese man Hoan-ji, who had been brought to France by a missionary from Canton. Instructed in Mandarin by Hoan-ji, who died in 1716, Fourmont was the first Frenchman to attempt an explanation of written Chinese and the system of 214 radicals. His Meditationes sinicae of 1737 was followed by the present work, in which the grammar of Mandarin is arranged as a Latin grammar; it also contains a catalogue of Louis XIV's Chinese library. Fourmont had 80,000 Chinese characters engraved in Paris, and they were re-used by de Guignes for his monumental Dictionnaire chinois, français et latin of 1813.