Subject: Telescopes--China--History--Sources

Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說. Xingjing 星經. Xingxiang kao 星象考. Jingtian gai 經天該
AuthorRicci, Matteo 利瑪竇, 1552-1610Schall von Bell, Johann Adam 湯若望, 1592-1666
PlaceShanghai 上海
PublisherShangwu yinshuguan 商務印書館
CollectionBibl. Sinensis Soc. Iesu
Edition初版
LanguageChinese 中文
TypeBook (Text in Collection)
SeriesCongshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編 ; 1308
ShelfAdmin. Office Gallery
Call NumberAC149.T76 1935 v. 1308
Description31, 95, 3, 25 p. : ill. ; 17.5 cm.
NoteYuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 / Tang Ruwang [i.e. Ruowang] zuan 湯如望[i.e. 若望] 纂. Xingjing 星經 / Gan Gong Shishen zhu 甘公石申著. Xingxiang kao 星象考 / Zou Huai zhu 鄒淮著. Jingtian gai 經天該 / Li Madou zuan 利瑪竇纂.
Colophon and spine title: Yuanjing shuo ji qita sanzhong 遠鏡說及其它三種.
"據藝海珠塵本影印" -- T.p. verso.
民國25 [1936].

“....Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 (Explanation of the Telescope, 1626), by Schall, which contained the first account of the Tychonic world system in Chinese..” Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, v.1, p. 714.

Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說
AuthorSchall von Bell, Johann Adam 湯若望, 1592-1666
PlaceShanghai 上海
PublisherShangwu yinshuguan 商務印書館
CollectionRicci Institute Library
Edition
LanguageChinese 中文
TypeDigital Book (PDF)
Series
ShelfDigital Archives
Call NumberQB17.S26 1936d
Descriptiondig.pdf. [31 p. : ill.]
NoteYuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 / Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 / Tang Ruwang [i.e. Ruowang] zuan 湯如望[i.e. 若望] 纂.
1st. section of vol. 1308 of Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.
"據藝海珠塵本影印" -- T.p. verso.
民國25 [1936].
“....Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 (Explanation of the Telescope, 1626), by Schall, which contained the first account of the Tychonic world system in Chinese..” Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, v.1, p. 714.
See note for ARSI Japonica-Sinica edition.
Local access dig.pdf. [Schall -Yuanjingshuo.pdf]
Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說. [Jap-Sin II, 39.2]
AuthorSchall von Bell, Johann Adam 湯若望, 1592-1666Li Zubai 李祖白, d. 1665
PlaceBeijing 北京
Publisher---
CollectionARSI
Edition
LanguageChinese 中文
TypeBook (stitch-bound 線裝本)
Series
ShelfARSI
Call NumberED. NOT HELD. SEE NOTE
Description1 juan in 1 ce.
NoteSee CSJC ed.

“....Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 (Explanation of the Telescope, 1626), by Schall, which contained the first account of the Tychonic world system in Chinese..” Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, v.1, p. 714.

Full bibliographic citation see: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).

JapSin II, 39.2
Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說.
By Tang Ruowang 湯若望 (Johann Adam Schall von Bell).
The text was put into Chinese with the help of Li Zubai 李祖白. One juan, one ce. Bamboo paper. No date or place of publication.

The cover bears a label with the title and a Latin inscription: “Explicatio tubi optici, | seu telescopii | a p. Adam Schall | S.J.”
There is a preface written by Schall himself, dated Tianqi 6 (1626). At the end of the preface there is a seal with the emblem of the Society of Jesus in ink. The table of contents consists of one and one-half folios; the verso of folio 2 contains an illustration of a telescope. Folio 1 gives the title of the book and the author’s name: 西洋湯若望著.
There are nine columns in each half folio with 18 characters in each column. The whole text consists of twenty-one folios, including illustrations. The title of the book is given in the middle of each folio; below the fish tail the number of the folio is given.

This is a book on the telescope. Zheng Zhongkui 鄭仲夔 (fl. 1630) in his book Ershi 耳食 (Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編, no. 2946), juan 8 (p. 53), tells of the telescope brought to China by Matteo Ricci which, after the death of Ricci, was taken to Nanzhou 南州 by one of his followers and many people had the chance to see it. The telescope Ricci brought to China must have been of an older type, since the new telescope improved by Galileo did not appear until 1610. Manuel Dias in his Tianwen lüe 天文略 (1615) refers to the new telescope saying that it can reach a distance of sixty miles and mentions that Galileo, a European scholar, was a fully qualified astronomer. Finally he says: “We shall explain in detail the wonder of this instrument, when we have it brought to China.” This condition was realized on the arrival of Adam Schall in 1622. In 1627, a year after Schall had written his book on the telescope, Philip Wang Zheng 王徵 wrote the Yuanxi qiqi tushuo lu zui 遠西奇器圖說錄最 (cf. Jap-Sin II, 53). In the bibliography Wang Zheng mentions the Yuanjing shuo. He did his best to explain the structure of the telescope, its employment in astronomy, in sea voyages, and in warfare. According to Pfister (p. 180, no. 12) the Yuanjing shuo was published in Beijing in 1630, and Fang Hao (1954, vol. 4, pp. 21–22) says that Schall made his translation from Girolamo Sirturi’s Telescopio (Frankfurt, 1616).
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 326.

Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說. [mss]
AuthorSchall von Bell, Johann Adam 湯若望, 1592-1666
Place---
Publisher---
CollectionRicci Institute Library
Edition
LanguageChinese 中文
TypeDigital Book, Manuscript (stitch-bound 線裝本)
Series
ShelfDigital Archives, Rare Book Cabinet
Call NumberQB17.S26
Description43 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.
NoteYuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 / [Tang Ruowang zhu 湯如望著].
Undated manuscript copy of 1626 Chinese edition made in Japan during the period of prohibition of Jesuit/Christian works. Includes Japanese reading marks and similar (but not identical) illustrations from the original text.

“....Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 (Explanation of the Telescope, 1626), by Schall, which contained the first account of the Tychonic world system in Chinese.” Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, v.1, p. 714.

See Fr. A. Chan S.J. bibliographic entry for Japonica-Sinica II, 39.2 edition.
See full bibliographic entry Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).

Local access dig.pdf. [Schall-Yuanjingshuo mss.pdf] & folder with master (.tif) images.