Science and Civilisation in China, Volume V, Part 12
- Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Very Good/Very Good. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. First Edition. Octavo (25.5x20x6.5cm); xlix + 918pp, including three bibliographies; index; romanization table; and chronology. Illustrated with 172 photographs (largely in color), maps, and reproductions of scroll- and line-drawings; 158 scientific charts and tables. Very Good. Dust jacket reproduces Taoist genii from a painted temple scroll on a cream ground. Image repeated in grisaille on boards; spine in black cloth with gilt lettering. Jacket shows only slightest shelfwear at edges; binding sturdy and sound; textblock unmarred and unmarked.
This hefty volume is 1/27 of the late Joseph Needham's authoritative and still continuing series, published-to date-in seven volumes and 27 parts. The focus is scientific and artisanal, covering clays, glazes, firing, kilns, porcelain, stoneware, and pigments, as used to create everything from tiny celadon incense-burners to giant polychrome glazed roofs and cornices for vast complexes and entire cities.
Needham's series has been decisively influential in global understanding of China's pre-modern scientific and technological superiority over the West.
This hefty volume is 1/27 of the late Joseph Needham's authoritative and still continuing series, published-to date-in seven volumes and 27 parts. The focus is scientific and artisanal, covering clays, glazes, firing, kilns, porcelain, stoneware, and pigments, as used to create everything from tiny celadon incense-burners to giant polychrome glazed roofs and cornices for vast complexes and entire cities.
Needham's series has been decisively influential in global understanding of China's pre-modern scientific and technological superiority over the West.