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James Legge publishes the Daodejing in Sacred Books of the East volume 39

In 1891 James Legge’s translation of the Tao Teh King appeared as Sacred Books of the East volume 39, with notes that already mark textual and biographical uncertainty. In the causal graph this event strengthens Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

In 1891 James Legge’s translation of the Tao Teh King appeared as Sacred Books of the East volume 39, with notes that already mark textual and biographical uncertainty.

Context

Victorian comparative religion put Laozi beside the Bible and the Vedas. That frame can distort. It also created the English working text many later readers used before Waley and Lau.

Laozi is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

Knowledge-access path. High confidence on 1891. Medium on welfare lag into Chinese politics.

An English classic is not an excavated slip. Keep the date on the book.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Laozi

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.2 · verified

    The Chinese heading is traditional. The English scholarly edition is Legge’s and the Clarendon Press’s.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.The Tao Teh King — James Legge translation on GutenbergProject Gutenberg · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Sacred Books of the East vol. 39 — The Tao Teh King (Legge)sacred-texts.com / Clarendon Press 1891 reprint · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

The sacred-texts reprint of SBE 39 and the Gutenberg Legge text independently carry the 1891 translation. Different hosts of the same dated book.

Established: Legge’s SBE volume 39 appeared in 1891. Not established: that Legge settled authorship.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, and museums are not converted into extra lifetime acts. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself. Confidence is stated on the impact path. A later English edition is not a recovered autograph. If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorLaozi
  2. contributed toFactJames Legge publishes the Daodejing in Sacred Books of the East volume 39
  3. strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). James Legge publishes the Daodejing in Sacred Books of the East volume 39. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/lz-legge-sbe-1891

https://factrail.ai/facts/lz-legge-sbe-1891

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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