CHENG, Xianjia 程先甲.

Guang xu fang yan shi yi 廣續方言拾遺 [Rectification of Omissions in “Expansion and Sequel to ’Regional Words’”].

Ten folding leaves. 8vo, orig. wrappers (wrappers a little frayed), orig. stitching. Nanjing: [Privately Printed] by Jiangning Chenshi 江寧程氏, 1910.

A rare work connecting pharmacopeias and ancient philology. In antiquity, the linguistic variety of China was gathered by Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53 BCE-18 CE) in The Imperial Light Carriage Emissary Explaining Discursively the Regional Words in Different States Through the Ages (Youxuan shizhe juedai yushi bieguo fangyan 輶軒使者絕代語釋別國方言), commonly referred to just as Regional Words, or Fangyan 方言. With a rise in interest in ancient philological scholarship, several sequels to Fangyan were compiled in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cheng Xianjia (1871-1932), a writer and official in both the Qing dynasty and the Republic, wrote such a sequel and published it in 1897. His book listed regional expressions gathered from a variety of ancient and medieval sources, glossed them, and cited his sources.

In the Rectification of Omissions in “Expansion and Sequel to ’Regional Words’,” Cheng expanded the coverage of sources cited to works more recent than the Tang dynasty, where he had stopped in the original Expansion and Sequel. Now he cited scholarly works as recent as Li Shizhen’s 李時珍 (1518-93) Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 [Systematic Materia Medica], and others. The Rectification of Omissions contains 107 lemmata and “many citations from pharmacopeia and medical books” (Gao, Yanjiusheng jiaoxue yongshu, 170). The text was written out by Cheng’s student Han Zhaoxiang 韓兆湘.

Rectification of Omissions in “Expansion and Sequel to ’Regional Words’” was reportedly first published in 1902 (Gao, 170). Our book was printed privately by Cheng nearly a decade later. We find no record in WorldCat.

Very good copy.

References

Han Geping 韩格平. “Cheng Xianjia jiqi Xuanya” 程先甲及其《选雅》. Guji zhengli yanjiu xuekan 1994, no. 1.

Gao Xiaofang 高小方, ed. Yanjiusheng jiaoxue yongshu: Zhongguo yuyan wenzi xue shiliao xue 研究生教学用书中国语言文字学史料学. Second ed. Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 2005.