JIN, Liang (or JINLIANG), editor.

Manzhou lao dang mi lu or Man wen lao dang [Old Manchu Archives].

58; 54 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. orange block-printed title labels on upper covers, orig. stitching. [China]: first Preface dated 1929.

First published edition of the so-called “old Manchu archives” [Manwen laodang; M.: Manbun roto), Manchu documents chronicling the reigns of Taizu and Taizong from 1607 to 1636, edited and written up in the 18th century on the basis of pre-1644 archival documents. These archives, housed in the Chongmo Pavilion of the Mukden Palace, are invaluable for the early history of the Manchus.

This edition is a Chinese translation of the Manchu. While the translation is not entirely reliable for scholarship, it is of considerable interest for intellectual history.

Jinliang (1878-1962), a member of an influential Manchu family, was chief of the Bureau of Banner Affairs in Mukden, a calligrapher, and an artist. Thanks to his governmental position, he also served as the curator of the Mukden palace archives and artifacts prior to the Japanese occupation of the city in 1931. He was the first bannerman to pay attention to Manchu writings and Qing historical sources.

Fine set, preserved in a hantao.

❧ Nakami Tatsuo, “The Manchu Bannerman Jinliang’s Search for Manchu-Qing Historical Sources” in Tumen jalafun jecen aku: Manchu Studies in Honour of Giovanni Stary, edited by Alessandra Pozzi, Juha Antero Janhunen, and Michael Weiers (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), pp. 171-86.

Price: $3,500.00

Item ID: 7816