HUANG, Renheng 黄任恒, ed.

Liao hen wu zhong 遼痕五種 [Five Works on the Remnants of the Liao].

Six vols. Small 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. [China]: 1925.

Five works by the same editor containing information on historical sources, with original texts, from the Liao period.

The Liao empire was ruled by the Mongolic-speaking Khitan people between 916 and 1125. They controlled much of what is now northern China, Mongolia, and surrounding territories. The empire had its own written language, but its ethnically diverse population also wrote extensively in Chinese. The works included deal with the Chinese texts left behind by the Liao. The collection includes:

1. Liao dai nian biao 遼代年表 [Chronology of the Liao Period].

2. Bu Liao shi yi wen zhi 補遼史藝文志 [Supplementing the Treatise on Bibliography in the “History of the Liao”].

3. Liao dai wen xue kao 遼代文學考 [Examination of the Literature of the Liao Period].

4. Liao dai jin shi lu 遼代金石錄 [Record of Stone and Bronze Inscriptions from the Liao Period].

5. Liao wen bu lu 遼文補錄 [Supplementary Record of Liao Texts].

The author cites up-to-date research of his time, including the findings of the explorers Paul Pelliot (1878-1945) and Ōtani Kōzui 大谷光瑞.

Huang Renheng (1876-1953) was a writer and publisher from Guangdong who wrote more than 40 books. Each title in this series opens with a note by the author, signed using his style name Shuke, 述窠, and dated 1925 (yichou). The note is accompanied by a photograph, which is the same in the first four titles but differs in the fifth one.

The author’s Preface to the series is dated 1925. Those to Supplementing the Treatise on Bibliography, Examination of the Literature, and Record of Stone and Bronze Inscriptions are all dated 1905 (Guangxu 31). The Preface to the Supplementary Record is dated 1919. The latter work contains an appendix dated 1905 (Guangxu yisi).

The lower part of the folio centerfold carries the imprint “Shuke zazuan” 述窠雜纂 [“Miscellaneous Writings by Shuke”].

Fine set, preserved in a hantao.

References

Luo Zhihuan 罗志欢. Zhongguo congshu zonglu xuanzhu 中国丛书综录选注. Jinan: Qi-Lu shushe, 2017.