Sun Tzu, Art militaire des Chinois [translated by Amiot], Paris, 1772, tree calf

SUN TZU

Art militaire des Chinois, ou recueil d'anciens traites sur la guerre composes... par differents generaux chinois [translated by Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot]. Paris: Didot l'Ainé, 1772

FIRST EUROPEAN EDITION, 4to (255 x 191mm.), half-title, 33 hand-coloured engraved plates of battle formation and dress (some folding), contemporary tree calf, very slightly worn at extremities

AN ATTRACTIVE COPY OF THE FIRST EUROPEAN EDITION OF SUN TZU’S The Art of War, written around the sixth century BC. A work of wide-ranging influence on both eastern and western culture, it has been accepted as a definitive work on strategy, military or otherwise. The translator, Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot (1718–1793), was a Jesuit missionary in Beijing, who did much to introduce the west to far-eastern life and thought. His introduction of The Art of War to a European readership was ground-breaking. The work would not be fully translated into English until 1910.

LITERATURE:

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