La morale de Confucius, philosophe de la Chine

Londres [but Paris]: [publisher not identified], 1783. Small 12mo, pp. [4], 197, [1]; portrait frontispiece signed "D'Eleane"; contemporary marbled paper wrappers on wastepaper, blank paper label on spine; wrappers rubbed and faded, textblock untrimmed; worn, but sound. At foot of frontispiece: "Edition de Cazin." The first edition of this translation was published in 1688 and has some uncertain attribution, though James St. Andre in Translating China as Cross-Identity Performace cites the combined efforts of Jean de Labrune, Louis Cousin, and Pierre Savouret. Includes: "Lettre sur la morale de Confucius," signed and dated: S. F.*** [i.e., Simon Foucher], (truncated) Paris, 1688. All the morals of Confucius in abbreviated form. From the advertisement on p. [1]: The volume "is quite small, if we look at the number of pages that make it up; but it is undoubtedly very large, if we consider the importance of the things contained there. We can say that the morality of this philosopher is infinitely sublime, but at the same time it is simple, sensitive and drawn from the purest sources of natural reason. Certainly, never has reason deprived of the light of divine revelation appeared so developed, nor with so much force. As there is no duty which Confucius does not speak of, there is none which he disregards. He pushes his morality well, but he does not push it further than necessary, his judgment always letting him know how far he must go, and where he must stop." Brunet II, 222. (Inventory #: 66603)