Chaojun Xu (3 results)

Leatherbound. Condition: NEW. Leatherbound edition. Condition: New. Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden leaf printing on spine. Bound in genuine leather with Satin ribbon page markers and Spine with raised gilt bands. A perfect gift for your loved ones. Reprinted from 1887 edition. NO changes have been made to the original text. This is NOT a retyped or an ocr'd reprint. Illustrations, Index, if any, are included in black and white. Each page is checked manually before printing. As this print on demand book is reprinted from a very old book, there could be some missing or flawed pages, but we always try to make the book as complete as possible. Fold-outs, if any, are not part of the book. If the original book was published in multiple volumes then this reprint is of only one volume, not the whole set. IF YOU WISH TO ORDER PARTICULAR VOLUME OR ALL THE VOLUMES YOU CAN CONTACT US. Resized as per current standards. Sewing binding for longer life, where the book block is actually sewn (smythe sewn/section sewn) with thread before binding which results in a more durable type of binding. Pages: 542 Language: chi Pages: 542.

First edition. 5 parts in 4 vols. Numerous full-page woodcut illustrations and maps throughout. Original Chinese stitched covers (lacking title-slips), minor wear, three pp. with marginal damage, but overall a very good set. In Chinese 19th century folding cloth case (slightly worn). Songjiang [Shanghai], Xu shi yuan kan ben, 1809- Xu Chaojun (1752-1823) was the fifth generation descendant of the famous Ming scholar, astronomer, and Christian convert Xu Guangxi (1562-1633) who had studied with Matteo Ricci and collaborated with him on the translation of Euclid's Elements into Chinese and Confucian Classics into Latin. The subjects in the present book - astronomy, geography, and time-keeping - all relate to sciences that hitherto had been the domain of Imperial studies and it is the first book in China on these subjects to be published outside the realms of Imperial-Jesuit collaboration. The book is divided into eight sections (juan) including Tianxue rumen (Introduction to Astronomy), Haiyu daguan (Overview of Countries and Seas), Zhong xing biao (Showing the Stars), Tiandi tuyi (Astronomical and World maps) and Ziming zhongbiao tushuo (Illustrated Explanation of Mechanical Clocks). The latter is the first illustrated work in China on the construction and maintenance of chiming clocks, tracing the manufacture of clocks from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty. Overview of Countries and Seas uses globe gore projections for both the stellar and the terrestrial maps and also includes the first description of Latin America in Chinese. The final volume (Gaohu hebiao) gives tables for the observation of celestial bodies in relation to the Chinese 24 seasonal solar terms providing degrees arc-minutes and arc-seconds for their position. Rare. Only 5 copies in OCLC.

The first Chinese star charts using Arabic numerals Two-coloured woodcuts in red and black, hand colouring on both charts, mounted on scrolls. The first Chinese star charts to use Arabic numbers. One of the most accurate astronomical documents made during early Qing dynasty, the present stars charts record a comprehensive observation of star positions, with additional details from Western astronomy. In particular, this pair of celestial charts was the first to include Arabic numerals to indicate newly added stars. The current example was made in 1807, and drew on one of the first European-influenced Chinese star charts Huangdao zongxing tu (The ecliptic planispheres) made by Ignaz Kögler (1680-1746), who was a German Jesuit missionary in Qing China. Similarly to Kögler's chart, the present charts depict polar stereographic projections from the south and north ecliptic pole, to the ecliptic or huangdao (ecliptic) that is hand coloured in yellow with 360 small divisions. Enclosing the ecliptic is a calendrical ring containing twenty-four Chinese solar terms to represent particular astronomical events or natural phenomena. Each solar term comprises three hou (pentad: a unit of five days), which are marked both in Chinese and Arabic numbers of ' , ' and '10, 20'. However, unique to this pair of star charts are the Arabic numerals that also appear below or to the left of the stars introduced by European Jesuits, in addition to the equivalent Chinese numerals. A legend of the matching Chinese and Arabic numerals is given in the colophon above the southern hemisphere. These numerals are used to indicate the seven xingdeng (Ptolemaic stellar magnitudes) of the stars. The combination of both Chinese and Arabic numerals best exemplifies ancient Chinese and Western scientific and technological exchanges. At the end of the colophon are the author's name Xu Zhaojun and the date of publication, being 1807 during Emperor Jiaqing's reign. Xu Zhaojun was a famous horologist of Qing dynasty, specialising in natural science and horology; he published an important book about astronomy, geography and scientific instruments. Xu is also the descendent of the renowned Ming scholar official Xu Guangqi (1562 1633), who was a colleague and collaborator of the Italian Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Sabatino de Ursis and assisted their translation of several classic Western texts into Chinese, including part of Euclid's Elements.