Beal, Samuel Abstract of four lectures on Buddhist literature in China delivered at University College, London. London Trubner 1882
First edition. 8vo (23 x 15 cm), pp.xvi, [4], 185, [1,blank]; 73 (advertisements), [1], 5 plates, 1 folding, vignette on verso of half-title. Printed errata slip. A very good copy in original pictorial cloth, gilt. A little rubbed. Scattered foxing.
Corder BS 745; Morrison I, p.48

The printed text of four lectures delivered by Samuel Beal to draw attention to the India Office's landmark acquisition of a printed set of the Tripitaka through the good offices of the Japanese ambassador to Britain, Iwakure Tomomi. The lectures deal with the introduction of Buddhism to China, the translation of Buddhist texts in Indian languages into Chinese, and the many different cultures and traditions from which Chinese Buddhism drew. Samuel Beal (1825-1889), who had served as a naval chaplain in Chinese waters, subsequently achieved a reputation as one of Britain's foremost scholars of Chinese Buddhism and was professor of Chinese at University College, London. He held the post, in tandem with his ecclesiastical duties, until his death. The plates are reproductions of illustrations in a printed Chinese history of Buddhism.