SI BU BEI YAO SHU MU TI YAO 四部備要書目提要 [Annotated Catalogue to the Sibu beiyao].
Four vols. Small 8vo, orig. printed wrappers (some dampstaining throughout), orig. stitching. Shanghai: Zhonghua shu ju [Zhonghua Book Company], 1936.
The series Sibu beiyao [Essential Writings of the Four Branches of Literature] (1920-33), consisted of edited reprints of 336 titles of rare literary and historical collections organized according to the classical method of the four categories of learning. The series was the brain-child of the enterprising Lufei Kui (1896-1941), educational reformer, pioneer of script reform, and founder of the Zhonghua Book Company, in 1912. The company soon became the second-most influential publishing firm in Republican China, surpassed only by the Commercial Press.
The present work is the bibliographical précis of the early and later editions of the books included in the collection (congshu). The handsome typeface is known as Fangsong ti, new Song-style characters, used by Lufei Kui in many of his books.
A very good set. In spite of the dampstaining, the text is absolutely legible.
References
Reed, Christopher A. Gutenberg in Shanghai: Chinese Print Capitalism 1876-1937. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, pp. 225-40
Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. Fourth Edition. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 73.2.1.
Price: $1,750.00
Item ID: 7804