Transcribing the Hebrew Satan into Chinese
Nouveau Syllabaire et Alphabet Chinois Phonetique.
Nancy Grimblot & Vve Raybois; Lith. L. Christophe 1856-7
First edition. 8vo (21.5 13.5 cm), pp.6, [1, blank], 25 (lithographed Chinese text), [ii]. Printed French and English text. With lithographed Arabic, Hebrew, Manchu, and Sanskrit characters. Propagation des Sciences Européennes dans l'Extreme Orient. A very good copy bound in contemporary half calf. Shelfmark and blindstamp of British and Foreign Bible Society on initial blank.
COPAC records a single copy at Cambridge.
An eccentric proposal for the transcription of biblical Hebrew names into Chinese, suggesting a method for retaining the original Hebrew meanings in Chinese characters while still providing a phonetic transcription. Schutz proposes a new Chinese alphabet of 26 letters with five accents, to represent 1443 Chinese characters, and outlines the parallels between his proposed alphabet and those of Arabic, Hebrew, Manchu, and Sanskrit. Schutz clearly wrote with the the occult interest in numerology in mind, and sees the Biblical text as replete with hidden meaning, obscured by vernacular translations.