Zhong Xue 重學 [An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics]

Movable Metal Type Edition

Numerous in-text illustrations. 17 juan in 2 volumes. Small 4to(27.5x19.5cm), orig wrappers.同治丁卯年上海美華書館活字版, movable metal type, 1867.

Translated by Joseph Edkins (艾约瑟) and Li Shanlan (李善蘭) from William Whewell’s An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics. This 1867 movable-type edition represents a revised and typographically improved version of the earlier woodblock edition of 1866. Compared with the 1866 issue, this edition includes an English preface by Alexander Wylie (偉烈亞力), a “Vocabulary of Technical Terms,” and a newly added preliminary section (17 leaves), while omitting Li Shanlan’s preface, the three juan on Fluid Mechanics (Liu zhi zhong xue 流質重學), and the supplementary Treatise on Conic Sections (Yuan zhui qu xian shuo 圓錐曲線說).

As one of the earliest systematic Chinese translations of Newtonian mechanics, Chung Hsüeh played a pivotal role in transmitting Western physical science to late Qing readers. The 1867 edition, with its movable-type printing, English scholarly apparatus, and expanded preliminary section, exemplifies the increasing textual and conceptual sophistication of Sino–Western scientific exchange in nineteenth-century China.

Slight worming; wrappers of vol. 2 slightly damaged with some losses.

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