Hanshan Tang Books
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LIST 211 — New & Recent
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ZZJWH1 JINXIU WAN HUA GU. (The Valley of a Myriad Embroidered Flowers). 錦繡萬花谷. Nanjing, 2015. 40 volumes in 4 han. 40 vols. 25x19 cm. Stitched. Cardboard cases. All in a silk-covered box. GBP 2,500.00 Faithful and exact facsimile produced to a very high standard and printed on xuan paper (xuanzhi) of an extremely rare, probably unique, example of this Song dynasty encyclopedia. An excellent example of Song dynasty printing. The encyclopedia was compiled during the Southern Song dynasty, probably during the reign of the Emperor Xiao (r.1162-1169). Comprises an initial 40 juan in 24 volumes followed by a further 16 supplement volumes (Hou Ji) with a further 40 juan. The work is complete in the total of 80 juan. The encyclopedia is of importance as it contains much early information not found elsewhere and includes phrases, quotations, poems etc. from numerous lost works. The facsimile is made from the copy held in the famous Guoyun Lou, the renowned and secretive library of the Gu family of Suzhou who collected throughout the Qing dynasty. Many of the rare works from the library were presented to the Nanjing Library in 1992, the remainder then disappeared. This work resurfaced in the 2000s and fetched a huge sum at auction in Beijing in 2012. Of particular note with this copy is that, following detailed examination by Chinese experts, it was ascertained that it was printed using a different calligraphic font to its only known 'companion copy' held in the Seikado Bunko Library in Tokyo. No other copy with this font is known. All text in Chinese. This facsimile produced in a very limited edition, we are told, of just 100 copies and immediately snapped up by libraries and bibliophiles in China. The 40 volumes in 4 cloth-covered tao. All contained within a larger silk-covered box. Subjects: Encyclopaedias Rare Books Item 60 in List 211. URL for this record: hanshan.com/?j/ZZJWH1.HTM Record produced by Hanshan Tang Books, www.hanshan.com. |