Mr Selden's Map of China : Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer

First Edition, second Printing. lg8vo blue cloth, silver gilt spine titles, PO Jack Wills sign to fep ow appears unread NF/vgdj: xxiv, 211pp plus 16 pages of glossy color photos. Inner front flap: "In 1659, a vast and unusual map of China arrived in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It was bequeathed by John Selden, a London business lawyer, political activist, former convict, MP, and the city's first Orientalist scholar. Largely ignored, it remained etc 8 chapters: 1, What is Wrong with this Map?; 2, Closing the Sea; 3, Reading Chinese in Oxford; 4, John Saris & the Chinese Captain; 5, The Compass Rose; 6, Sailing from China; 7, Heaven is Round, Earth is Square; and 8, Secrets of the Shelden Map, followed by Epilogue and 2 appendices. Exploring the story behind a handpainted 17th century Chinese martine map, donated to Oxford's Bodleian Library in 1654 by lawyer John Selden (1584 - 1654), where it sat undisturbed for some 350 years in 2009. Sinologist Timothy Brook probes the mystery of how this ancient Chinese map finds its way to England of King James II. The map (circa 1608) was in fact a maritime chart. Newly realised and researched by the author./ASSOCIATION: John E. Wills, Jr. 1936-2017, Longtime USC China Studies Professor was PO of this volume and has signed his full name to fep. Wills was a prolific scholar of works on relations between China and the West during the age of exploration; his book on the Ming-Qing transition period entitled 1688: A Global History. is now a classic