[Rarebooks] FS: Waley's 1919 Chinese Poems -1/50 special copies

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

Waley, Arthur. MORE TRANSLATIONS FROM THE CHINESE.

New York; Alfred A. Knopf: 1919.

One of 50 numbered copies printed on Fabriano hand-made paper.

Arthur Waley [1889-1966] was a noted Orientalist and Sinologist, perhaps
most famous for his studies and translations of Chinese & Japanese poetry,
plays, and literature. Waley was perhaps a better translator than poet,
and in his introductory notes here makes mention of the tensions between
making a literal translation of a Chinese poem and making one which will
be pleasing poetically to an English reader. Indeed, his friend Ezra Pound
wrote to Margaret Anderson, editor of The Little Review in 1917-

    "Have at last got hold of Waley's translations
     from Po Chu-i. Some of the poems are magnificent.
     Nearly all the translations marred by his bungling
     English and defective rhythm... I shall try to buy
     the best ones, and to get him to remove some of the
     botched places. (He is stubborn as a jackass,
     or a scholar.)"

The poems here begin with 4th century B.C. poet Ch’u Yuan, and also
include 8th century poet Li Po, 9th century poets Po Chu-i and Wang Cjien,
and several others. Whatever deficiencies Pound saw notwithstanding, Waley
was awarded the Queen’s Medal for Poetry in 1953.

Hardcover. 6.5”x8.25”, 144 pages; printed on deckle-edged, Fabriano
hand-made paper; publisher’s abstractly-patterned boards and parchment
spine; light cover soil, moderate foxing on the half-title, else some very
light, scattered foxing. [09501] $250.00

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