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LIST 211 — New & Recent
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ZZTC04 TAEHAK CHUNGYONG. ((Daxue) The Great Learning and (Zhongyong) Doctrine of the Mean). 大學 中庸。英宗大王御製。庚辰新刊內閣藏板。章句大全. N.p. (Seoul?), 1760. ?? Taehak: 4, 7, 5, 69; 32 folded leaves. Chungyong: 3, 8, 135; 61 folded leaves. 4 vols. 32x21 cm. Stitched. GBP 1,500.00 Four-volume Korean woodblock-printed work of two of the Four Books of Confucian philosophy. The Daxue (Great Learning) was originally a chapter in the Book of Rites (Li Ji) attributed to Confucius' disciple, Zengzi. The Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean) is based on another chapter in the Book of Rites and is attributed to the grandson of Confucius, Zisi. Both are hugely important in Confucian philosophy and have remained influential throughout China's (and Korea's) history. They were reinterpreted in the 12th century AD by the Song dynasty neo-Confucianists, most notably, Zhu Xi, in his critically-edited work, Sishu Zhangju. The neo-Confucianists had originally selected these two chapters of the Book of Rites as being of especial importance and which stood together as an entity. Zhu Xi went further and incorporated them with the Analects and Mencius to form the Four Books. These two works have been taken from the Sishu Zhangju as the margin of the pages of the two texts states in Chinese characters: Zhangju Daquan - Zhangju Compendium (see above for characters). Furthermore, a date equating to 1189 (Chunxi Yiyou) is given at the end of the preface to each work by Zhu Xi. It is thus unclear as to whether these four volumes stand by themselves as a production or are two parts of an edition of the Four Books. Each of the two works has a volume giving the original Chinese text accompanied by Zhu Xi's comments in a smaller font. This is followed by a slimmer volume of explanation of some of the Chinese characters with Korean equivalent and then a rendering of the text in Korean (with the inclusion of Chinese characters where needed). A printed inscription at the top right of the first page of the first Taehak/Daxue/Great Learning volume reads in Chinese: Yingzong Da Wang Yuzhi - Imperial Production of the Great Monarch Yingzong (see above). This seems to refer to the Korean king Yeongjo who reigned 1724-1776. The end of the preface that discusses the printing of the work at the beginning of the Daxue volume gives a date that equates to 1758. This work was printed from old woodblocks held in the Korean court as at the back of each of the four volumes is printed in Chinese characters 'Gengchen Xinkan Neige Cangban' (Printed in the gengchen year from blocks held within the Court). See characters above. Given that this is an 18th or 19th century production, gengchen equates to 1760, 1820 or 1880. Similar works that have appeared for sale in China have been attributed to the Qianlong reign. Given all the above, we tentatively view this as being printed in 1760. The work was possibly based on an earlier (Ming or later) Chinese or Korean edition as the end of the Taehuk preface states that the Hongwu Zhengyun (Hongwu character rhyming dictionary) was the basis of the characters used for this work. Hongwu was the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. However, this earlier Chinese edition theory cannot be certain due to the use of Chinese characters in government and court publications in Korea at the time. A good example of an imperially-commissioned Korean woodblock-printed work that exhibits the distinctive strong style and features of Korean printing at the time. Good impression of characters. Yellow covers. In fine condition. Early pencil explanatory inscriptions in English on the inside of the front covers. Rare. Subjects: Classics Printing Item 123 in List 211. URL for this record: hanshan.com/?t/ZZTC04.HTM Record produced by Hanshan Tang Books, www.hanshan.com. |