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Secondary sourceBook1899

The Taoteh King

T. W. Kingsmill · 1899

A short 1899 English edition and translation of the Tao Te Ching, the text attributed to Laozi.

An early English translation and scholarly study of the text attributed to Laozi.

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The Taoteh KingPDF · 28 pages
The Taoteh King, scanned edition, 1899.

About this source

What it is

This is a 19-page English edition of the Tao Te Ching (Taoteh King) published in 1899, based on a paper prepared by T. W. Kingsmill for the Royal Asiatic Society. It presents a translation of part of the text along with notes on its compound structure, explaining that chapters often open with quotations from older authors.

Why it matters

This edition shows how Western scholars in the late 19th century were studying and translating Laozi's text, and debating its origins and composition. It reveals that even then, scholars recognized the text as pieced together from multiple older sources rather than a single simple work.

Look closer

  • What does the scholar's note about 'compound' chapters suggest about how the Tao Te Ching was put together?
  • Why might a translator explain his methods and sources before giving the translation itself?
  • How does this scanned document differ from reading a clean printed book?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Laozi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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