Jiu shi zhu Yesu xin yi zhao shu - Gutzlaff's Version of the New Testament.

Large 8vo (25,5x17cm). Original Chinese-style binding, preserving the original plain upper wrapper (foxing and damage, lacking back wrapper) with the publisher’s printed title label tipped on; yellow title-leaf with Chinese title in seal-script and date, lower left corner torn off; a few corners dog-eared, one leaf with small edge loss, scattered light foxing, but overall still a good copy. 206ff. [Hong Kong], Fuhan-hui, 

Gutzlaff's translation of the New Testament in High Wen-li, printed in Hong Kong.

 

Initially, Gutzlaff and Morrison worked together on a  translation of the Bible which had been printed in Malacca and Singapore during the 1830s. However, Gutzlaff, together with a team of Western missionaries and Chinese converts, kept revising the text in order to make it more understandable and the present version of New Testament (although printed three years after his death) can be considered the definitive version of Gutzlaff's work. It was printed by the Fuhan-hui in Hong Kong and is the first NT to have been printed using movable type.

 

The publisher 'Fuhan-hui' refers to both the 'Chinese Union' and the 'Chinese Evangelization Society' which replaced the 'Chinese Union' as the main publisher of Chinese Bibles in 1854. The 'Chinese Union' missionary society had initially been founded by Gutzlaff in 1844 with the aim of training Chinese missionaries to proselytise on the mainland but the enterprise only met limited success and Gutzlaff found that his large expectations had been deceived.

 

Darlow/Moule 2510. C. f. British and Foreign Bible Society. Historical Catalogue. no. 2510. Very rare. Only three copies in OCLC. 

Stock Code: 253640