Shan hai jing 山海經 [Classic of Mountains and Seas] (title from beginning of juan 1...
Numerous woodcut illus. in the text. 18 juan in four vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers (lower wrapper of final vol. a little frayed), orig. stitching. [China]: Chong de tang 崇德堂, 1783 (date of Preface).
An early edition of this ancient descriptio mundi, a unique and very influential work in the Chinese literary tradition.
“The compilers conceived of the earth as being divided into three concentric rectangles...(i) a central territory, 28,000 li in length, 26,000 li in height; (ii) four seas, encompassing the central lands; and (iii) a ‘great wilderness’, stretching from the seashore to an undetermined limit.
“Chüan [juan]... More