Xi yu ji 西域記 [Record of Things Seen & Heard in the Western Regions]
One double-page woodcut map in the text. 56; 60 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, new stitching. [China]: Wei jing tang, Preface dated 1814.
An early, variorum edition (1st ed.: 1777) of this great classic, the Xiyu wenjianlu 西域聞見錄.
The Manchu official Qishiyi, in [the present work], offers a frontiersman’s view of the conquest quite different from that of the imperial center. Qishiyi, who earned his jinshi degree in 1754, served as a low-ranking official in charge of grain supply in Turkestan. He narrates vividly the struggle for succession to the Zunghar Khanate after Galdan...More