Collected & edited by Jiang Shaoyu 江少虞. Complete in 78 parts plus table of contents, bound in 15 vols. (full collation supplied in the Hyde catalogue). Large 8vo (286 x 215 mm.), early paper wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: chokuban [privately published by the Emperor Go-Mizunoo’s order], 1621.

First edition and a fine complete set of one of the very few surviving “imperial editions” printed with movable type (kokatsujiban 古活字版). There is considerable modern debate, with no definitive conclusion, whether this book was printed with metal or wooden type (see below). It is of very great rarity, and we find no... More