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Rare complete set of this important survey of Chinese life in the 18th-century. It forms an introduction to the Western World of Eastern life, philosophy and language. The work of Jesuit missionaries, including Cibot, Bourgeois, Poirot, Ko and Yang, it includes translations of classic Chinese works of law, maxims and proverbs, as well as essays on Chinese linguistics, current affairs and scientific observations. Volume VII is a reprint of Amiot's "Art militaire des Chinois" (Paris, 1772) - the first translation into a European language of the ancient Chinese military strategy. Volume XII is a life of Confucius, more complete and accurate than any previous text on the subject. Provenance: Edith Weir Perry (of the distinguished family of Matthew Calbraith Perry and Oliver Hazard Perry), with inscription in pencil on front free endpaper: "If neither De Wolf Perry nor John Perry want this interesting set, give it to the Washington Cathedral library. It belonged to Rev. John W. French, rector of Church of the Epiphany and then chaplain of the USMA at West Point. E.W. Perry." It was never given and descended in the family of the consigner, a private California collector.