译曼根氏跋语
当一千八百五十九年英法联军火圆明园。某军人得书一簏，皆大内珍藏本。以此书中有图画举赠利比亚女士。余从女士乞得之。翻译一过知为中国先哲之预言兴旺治乱，微言示意，靡不明如烛照。历代君主恶其淆惑民心，觊觎非分，故止刊刻。兹何幸而流传我国得饫眼福，因跋数语于后。
一千八百六十七年曼根氏识
In 1859, when the allied English and French troops burnt the Yuan Ming Yuan in Peking, one of the soldiers discovered a box of manuscripts in Chinese which had been carefully preserved by the imperial family. Seeing that they contain pictures the soldier presented them to Miss Lypia from whom I secured the same.
In translating them I found that they represented the predictions of a Chinese prophet with reference to the rise, the fall, the tranquility, and the turbulence of China. Everything was very plainly written. The emperors of the past dynasties prohibited their publication for they might disturb the minds of the people and lead to bad consequences.
It is indeed our good fortune that they had come into our country and that we may study them. These lines are written as an introduction.
Maeon(1867)
《推背图》正文
