Sun Tzu on the Art of War: The Oldest Military Treatise in the World, Translated from the Chinese with Introduction and Critical Notes.

First complete English translation of arguably the best twentieth-century translation of Sun Tzu's seminal work on military strategy, preceded only by the first translation into French of 1772 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, and partial translation into English by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop of 1905. Royal octavo, original printed yellow wrappers bound into full contemporary cloth-covered boards, gilt-lettered morocco spine label. Provenance: William George's Sons (bookseller's label affixed to front wrapper). Lionel Giles, the leading Sinologue of his day, was not fond of either of his predecessor's translations of the work, declaring Amiot's translation an "imposture" of the original and Calthrop's knowledge of Chinese "far too scanty." It was not until the publication in 1963 of Samuel Griffith's translation that Giles met any sort of challenge at all. In very good condition. A very rare and desirable example of this definitive cornerstone of military strategy.