Hebrew Printing in Sabbioneta 1 AFFO, Ireneo - Schulz-Falster Rare ...

First edition in German of Voltaire’s play Orphelin de la Chine, Wrst published
in French in 1775. Voltaire shared the eighteenth century fascination
with all things Chinese, and here adapts the Yuan drama Zhaoshi guer
by Ji Junxiang written around 1330. He depicts the Chinese as most wise
and virtuous and a model of moral behaviour, condensed into Confucian
maxims. Historical fact clearly had to be sacriWced for dramatic eVect, and
the love-interest is placed in the centre of the action, so much so that the
Mongol invasion of China turns out ot have been the exclusive result of
Genghis Khan’s passion for Idamé, daughter of a Chinese mandarin, Zamti.
(Birch, pp. 216 V.).
Of particular interest is the introduction by the anonymous translator.
He writes on the problems of verse translations, and versiWcation, and
maintains that a well-written prose translation remains truer to the original
than a forced verse translation.
A few years later Ludwig Korn produced a verse translation of the play.
Goedeke III, 365,3; Fromm 27110; very uncommon, KVK lists copies at the British
Library and the Bodleian, in addition to a copy in Stuttgart; see Löwendahl,
Sino-Western Relations 477 and Bengesco I, 214 for Wrst edition.
Political Economy in Sweden
122 WALLERIUS, Nicolaus. Fundamenta Oeconomiae Publicae,
quam SuVragio Ampliss Facultatit Philosoph. In Illustris Academ.
Upsal. Publicae Bonorum Censurae modeste subjiciunt, Auctor
Nicolaus Wallerius, ... et respondens Sveno Hörstadius. Uppsala,
1740. £450
4to, pp. [ii], 69, [1]; woodcut headpiece and initials; marbled paper
spine, with number at head; a little dog-eared and faint damp-stain to
lower outer corner, else Wne.
First and only edition of this academic dissertation on the importance of a
healthy public economy as the foundation of a sound republic. Trade and in
particular overseas trade is to be encouraged, quoting Grotius, and pointing
to the great success of the Dutch and English. Wallerius (1668–17400)
discusses trading companies who unite for an optimisation of the proWt, in
the exploration especially of foreign shores. He comments on the education
of a businessman or merchant and suggests that knowledge in international
law (Grotius), arithmetic, but also natural history, languages, and law, are
essential in addition to navigation. He greatly encourages the building of
the forerunners of factories, for which one needs natural resources, and
the technical know-how to begin mass production. Wallerius had earlier
written a publication on Louis de Geer, who is credited with bringing early
industrialisation to Sweden.
Of particular interest is the wide range of economic textbooks available
to Wallerius. He cites extensively from Grotius, Savary, Bohn, Bodin
amongst others.
susanne schulz-falster rare books