Séraphin COUVREUR (1835-1919) Annales des Printemps... Lot 176

Séraphin COUVREUR (1835-1919) Annales des Printemps et Automnes ( ¬î ¥ª 传 chūn qiū zuǒchuánen) in eight volumes, publisher Ho Kien Fou, China, Zhili province, 1914. LI KI, two volumes; Cérémoniel, one volume; CHOU QING, one volume; CHEU QING, one volume; CHUN QIU ZUO CHUAN, three volumes. 24.8 x 16.5 cm Séraphin Couvreur, from his Chinese name Gu Saifen (ÅU ÁÉ ªâ), (1835-1919), French Jesuit priest, missionary in China from 1870 to 1919. A renowned lexicographer and sinologist, he wrote some fifteen works in French and Latin, as well as translations of classical Chinese works. In 1902, he invented a system of Chinese transcription, the so-called 'Couvreur' system, which was to be the most widely used until the middle of the 20th century.