THE DIAMOND SUTRA

London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1912.. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Publisher's original orange cloth, the upper board ruled in red, with titles in gilt to the upper board and spine, in original plain card dustwrapper with printed titles in black to the upper panel and spine. Title page printed in red and black. Previous owner's brown silk ribbon page marker affixed to the rear endpaper. xxxii + 117pp. A very good copy, the binding firm with a touch of cracking in places, a few marks to the lower board, toning to the spine, and the trace of a small circular label to the foot of the spine. The contents with the front free endpaper clipped at the top corner and a previous owner's inscription rubbed away leaving an abrasion to the surface of the paper, some occasional light foxing, the odd pencil annotation, and the occasional minor mark are otherwise in good order. The dustwrapper with a heavy vertical crease to the spine panel, marking to the rear panel, and some light wear to the extremities is otherwise good. An early English translation of the Diamond Sutra - one of the most influential Mahayana sutras in East Asia, particularly prominent within the Chan (or Zen) Buddhist tradition - by the Scottish author and physician William Gemmell (1859-1919).

A keen student of the Buddhist faith, Gemmell, who consulted with monks in Central China as part of his preparations for the present work, designed his translation to offer a more accessible text for "the general English reader". As he asserts in the preface, he perceived "that the peculiar charm of the Buddhist philosophy, and the remarkable purity of the Buddhist faith, are becoming more generally appreciated in Europe", and so sought to aid others in their further exploration of "the delectable Buddhist realm" by publishing the Diamond Sutra - "perhaps one of the most metaphysical of the works ascribed to Buddha" - "conveniently rendered into the English language".

An uncommon work, particularly so in its early dustwrapper.