Volume 6, Issue 1

In 1998 in an essay published in Lishi yanjiu, I once discussed the pioneering efforts of Joshua Marshman and Joannes Lassar in the early nineteenth century to produce a Chinese translation of the Bible in Serampore, India. In this essay I mentioned that the Gospel of John 若翰所書之福音, translated and printed by Marshman and Lassar in 1813, “was in fact the first Chinese book printed using movable metal type.”Today, fifteen years later, I have not yet seen any new discoveries requiring that I revise my assertions, and recently I had an opportunity to visit Serampore, to inspect what remains of the old Mission Press, and to collect some books and materials preserved there. This experience greatly enhanced my understanding of this episode of history. Hence, here I would like to use the materials I have at hand to discuss in more detail the early Chinese books printed with movable metal type and the achievements of the missionaries at Serampore in printing Chinese.