Descriptive sociology, or, Groups of sociological facts, classified and arranged by Herbert Spencer. Division III. [ No. 9.] Chinese, compiled and abstracted by E.T.C. Werner. edited by H.R. Tedder.

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Cloth-backed boards, folio, 50 cm, v, 312 p, 10 folding tables. Scarce. Effectively a huge encyclopedia of Chinese civilization providing a mass of carefully selected material not readily available elsewhere and now of interest both for its content and its significance in the history of western studies of China. From a review by F.W. Williams of another work which draws on the present volume: "considerable use has been made of Werner s 'Descriptive Sociology of the Chinese,' the most expensive but perhaps the most satisfactory volume in Herbert Spencer s great series on descriptive sociology, a book seldom noticed by writers on China, but one without which no library on that country is complete." This remarkable work aims to provide a vast mass of ethnographic and historical material on China through the ages, drawn from authoritative Chinese and foreign sources, and carefully arranged in a standardized classification scheme so that comparisons can be made with other societies and periods and correlations facilitated. The introduction notes that nearly 800 extracts from Chinese books were specially selected and translated by Edward Werner, while the extracts from western literatures are taken from 238 books, ranging from Marco Polo to authors of the day. The total number of quotations and abridged extracts, "which are encyclopedic in range of information and systemative in the method of their presentation", extends to upwards of 10,000. "Care was taken in the precise classification of these extracts and their arrangement in proper chronological order; and equal attention has been given to the nine elaborate Tables and the Scale of Progress, which describe 'the morphology, the physiology, and the development" of the civilization under review." A complete list of the works quoted is provided. The huge page size and small print means that there are typically over 3,000 words to a page. Spencer's series of volumes on Descriptive Sociology was a pioneering attempt to present factual material in a standardized classification scheme: although often overlooked today it was the inspiration for the later Human Relations Area Files project. Some abrasions to boards with slight loss of text, minor library marks (small case number on front board, small sticker and accession note on front free endpaper, minor accession marks on prelims, blindstamps on lower margin of title-page and 2 or 3 others), otherwise an unusually well-preserved Very Good clean copy. N° de ref. del artículo ABE-59282

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