Dunhuang

JIANG, Liangfu 姜亮夫.

Ying ya Dunhuang yun ji 瀛涯敦煌韻輯 [Phonological Materials from Dunhuang Collections Overseas].

Fine photographic reproductions throughout. 78; 87; 78; 69 folding leaves. 24 parts in four vols. Folio, orig. blue wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper cover, orig. stitching. Shanghai: Shanghai chu ban gong si, 1955.

First edition of one of the most important studies of the phonological materials found within the Dunhuang manuscripts, which were then located in Europe. Jiang (1902-95), linguist, a leading Chinese scholar of Dunhuang studies, lived in France in 1935-37, gathering reproductions of many of the manuscripts spread throughout the continent, especially at the BnF in Paris and the British Museum.

Jiang had studied phonology with Wang Guowei (1877-1927), a towering figure in early Republican intellectual history, at Tsinghua University in Beijing. In 1933 Jiang had published an introduction to Chinese phonetics, which was reissued in 1935. Jiang’s background in phonetics might have prompted Wang Zhongmin (1903-1975) to ask him to take charge of surveying the phonological materials from Dunhuang that were held at the BnF. Wang, who later became a professor of library science in Beijing, was at that time the Chinese liaison in a bilateral project between the national libraries of China and France. The Dunhuang sources at the BnF had been collected by Paul Pelliot (1878-1945), one of the great French sinologists of the era.

Jiang’s work with these sources was intense. Photographs (of which he took over 3000) were costly, and reportedly, he as a consequence lived on plain noodles, vegetables, and congee. Hot water had to stand in for tea. Jiang drafted Phonological Materials from Dunhuang Collections Overseas based on his reading of more than 6000 items from the BnF Dunhuang collection. He also consulted other European collections, but unwillingness of the staff to allow access to East Asian scholars made this work difficult. Jiang returned to China via Russia, as war with Japan appeared more and more likely. During the war years, much of what he had collected in Europe was lost, but Jiang was able to finish Phonological Materials from Dunhuang Collections Overseas during a few years of relative peace and quiet behind the front in Sichuan.

A very fine and fresh set, preserved in the original hantao.

❧ Li Fuchun, “Jiang Liangfu xiansheng haiwai fangshu shimo” (“The Story of Mr. Jiang Liangfu’s Consultation of Books in Foreign Collections”), Shandong tushuguan xuekan, no. 5 (2012), pp. 32-35. WorldCat Accession no. 19366676.

Price: $1,000.00

Item ID: 8044