Four folding engraved plates. Four parts in one vol. [all published]. 8vo, cont. half-sheep & paste-paper boards (occasional minor dampstaining, first 40 leaves with two unimportant wormholes in lower outer margin), spine gilt, black leather lettering piece on spine. Leipzig: Roch, 1801.

First edition, all published, of this important mineralogical and geological journal; this set comes from the library of the great geologist and mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817), professor at the famous Freiberg Bergakademie. According to D.S.B., VI, p. 456, this is the first “special periodical for geology and mineralogy…Despite the recognition it received, it ceased publication on the... More

74 leaves (including one folding leaf). 8vo, orig. printed wrappers, orig. stitching. Beijing: Hafo Yanjing xue she [Harvard Yenching University Library], January 1934.

First edition, Supplement No. 8 of the famous Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index Series. “In Yenching University Library was found a manuscript, in eight fascicles, of a reference compilation of biographical notices of about eleven hundred painters under the Ch’ing dynasty. Internal evidence seemed to indicate that the unknown compiler worked during 1787-1795 by culling eight other compilations. Three of these do not appear in the usual bibliographies, and many of the painters they mentioned do not appear... More

Three text leaves with Chinese characters, final conjugate leaf a full-page woodcut with about 65 Chinese characters, & a large folding engraved plate printing in Chinese characters the Kangxi Emperor’s edict of 1716. 58, [1] pp. Large 4to, orig. decorative wrappers, uncut. Nuremberg & Altdorf: Monath & Kussler, 1802.

First and only edition of an extremely uncommon book. Murr (1733-1811), a resident of Nuremberg, was a scholar with polymathic interests. He edited several intellectual journals, published on libraries and art museums, etc.

This work is, in large part, concerned with the Chinese Rites Controversy and the famous “Red Decree.” The... More

35 vols. Large 8vo, orig. wrappers (slightly browned throughout), old stitching (stitching partially loose). [China]: Bao qing jing lun tang, ca. 1810-50.

A collectanea of ten of the books whose authors Chinese bibliographers later classified as “masters” or “philosophers” (zi). The books date from Chinese antiquity to the middle period and some are very well known, others less so. The collection comprises:

—The Daoist works Laozi (Lao-tzu), Zhuangzi, the more problematic — partially hedonist, possibly partially forged or corrupted — Liezi, and the much lesser known Heguanzi (the “pheasant cap master”);

— Xunzi, by the iconoclastic Confucian, notorious for his... More

Some full-page woodcut illus. of scenes from the plays. 48 vols. Small 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. title-labels on upper covers, orig. stitching. Shanghai: Shang wu yin shu guan, 1918.

Lithographic reprint of the 1615-16 first edition. “Yuanquxuan is a collection of the greatest part of surviving Yuan-period (1279-1368) theatre plays. It includes 100 plays and is therefore also called Yuanren baizhong qu ‘One Hundred theatre plays by authors of the Yuan period’…

“The collection Yuanquxuan was compiled during the Ming period (1368-1644) by Zang Maoxun (1550-1620)…who hailed from Changxing, Zhejiang. He belonged to the so-called four masters (sizi), famous writers... More