SNS202 Shenzhen Nanshan Museum & National Library of China ed: KUANG SHI HONG BIAN WENXIAN DACHENG: GUOJIA TUSHUGUAN CANG YONGLE DADIAN WENXIAN ZHAN. A Magnum Opus Beyond Measure: Yongle's Encyclopaedia Enigma: National Library of China Collection - Yongle Encyclopaedia - Exhibition. 曠世宏編文獻大成:國家圖書館藏永樂大典文獻展. Beijing, 2020. 8, 155 pp. Colour and b/w plates throughout. 29x21 cm. Boards. GBP 70.00 Catalogue of an exhibition held at the National Library of China in Beijing in 2018 and then (as here) at the Shenzhen Nanshan Museum in early 2020. Explores the history of the production of the two versions of this Chinese cultural icon, the Yongle Dadian (Yongle Encyclopaedia), under the Yongle and Jiajing emperors of the Ming dynasty. Also includes many associated rare printed and manuscript works related to the Encyclopaedia and tells the interesting story of the ongoing efforts by China to reclaim the scattered extant fascicles following the destruction by fire of the Hanlin Library in 1900. It appears that the National Library of China did not lend original fascicles of the Encyclopaedia to the Shenzhen exhibition - facsimiles are shown. This, however, does not detract from a very interesting and well-illustrated catalogue with dual texts in Chinese and English. Hard to obtain. Subjects: Encyclopaedias Rare Books Item 221 in List 212. URL for this record: hanshan.com/?s/SNS202.HTM Record produced by Hanshan Tang Books, www.hanshan.com. |