27 juan in 18 vols. Large 8vo, orig. wrappers, new stitching. [China]: Lousong shuwu [“The Tower Pine Library”], 1777-78.

This book by Hong Kuo 洪适 (1117-84), records the texts of inscriptions on stone monuments dating from the Han-Wei period, which corresponds to the rules of the Han empire (202 BCE-220 CE) and the state of Wei (220-266 CE). The Wei was one of the powers that fought for supremacy in the empire’s wake. The book’s author, Hong Kuo, was born in the Song empire when it controlled all of China but lived in what is now known as the Southern... More

2 p.l., 217, [2] folding leaves. Seven juan in one vol. 8vo, orig. printed wrappers, orig. stitching. Shanghai & Beijing: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, 1931.

First edition of “the major modern study” (W. South Coblin) of the classic Buddhist phonological work Yiqiejing yinyi [Sounds & Meanings of All the Buddhist Scriptures] of Huilin (737-820). He was “a monk of Xi Ming Temple in Chang’an (today’s Xi’an, Shanxi Province)…He had a profound knowledge of Indian philology and exegetic studies. It is recorded that he started to write Sounds and Meanings of All the Buddhist Scriptures in 788 and... More

84.5; 89 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo (275 x 190 mm.), orig. blue semi-stiff wrappers (wrappers wormed), new stitching. [Japan, probably Kyoto]: colophon dated 1614.

A rare Japanese edition of a manual for classical Chinese composition ascribed to Huang Jian 黃堅, allegedly of the Song dynasty. The earliest edition was published in China and has a Preface dated 1502. The book contains examples of classical Chinese writings classified by genre. These include poetry, such as rhapsodies (fu 賦), and prose, such as essays (wen 文), biographies (zhuan 傳), and stelae (bei 碑). The “ancient prose” (Ch.: guwen; J.... More

74 leaves (including one folding leaf). 8vo, orig. printed wrappers, orig. stitching. Beijing: Hafo Yanjing xue she [Harvard Yenching University Library], January 1934.

First edition, Supplement No. 8 of the famous Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index Series. “In Yenching University Library was found a manuscript, in eight fascicles, of a reference compilation of biographical notices of about eleven hundred painters under the Ch’ing dynasty. Internal evidence seemed to indicate that the unknown compiler worked during 1787-1795 by culling eight other compilations. Three of these do not appear in the usual bibliographies, and many of the painters they mentioned do not appear... More

Ten columns per page, 20 characters per column. 52 folding leaves. Large 8vo (280 x 203 mm.), later wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: colophon dated “1564.”

The earliest surviving edition of one of the “two priceless records of the earlier stages of the Chinese language.”–Edwin G. Pulleyblank, “Qieyun and Yunjing: The Essential Foundation for Chinese Historical Linguistics“ in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 118, No. 2 (April-June 1998), p. 213. The Yunjing, along with its predecessor, the Qieyun, were the standard pronunciation guides of the Early Middle Chinese and Middle Chinese periods.

This is a very rare book, with... More

Ten columns per page, 20 characters per column. The first leaf in Japanese, the remainder in Chinese. 1 p.l., 52 folding leaves. 8vo (275 x 173 mm.), orig. wrappers (wrappers quite rubbed & and somewhat worn), old stitching. From the colophon: “Kyoto: Tahara Ninzaemon, 1641.”

A very rare early edition — not in WorldCat or NIJL — of one of the “two priceless records of the earlier stages of the Chinese language.”–Edwin G. Pulleyblank, “Qieyun and Yunjing: The Essential Foundation for Chinese Historical Linguistics“ in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 118, No. 2 (April-June 1998), p. 213. The... More

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... More

Many woodcut illus. 159 folding leaves. Five parts in one vol. Oblong 8vo, orig. dark blue thick wrappers (wrappers rubbed), orig. block-printed title label on upper cover (label rubbed & soiled), orig. stitching. Kyoto, Edo, & Osaka: Hishiya magobei et al., 1859.

A late Japanese edition of one of the earliest Chinese collections of texts on horse medicine. Our book stems from a “late 14th-century compilation [which] does contain genuine works from earlier times. This is the Simu anji ji (Collections for Pacifying Stallions when Administering Flocks), published in 1384. Judging from internal evidence, most of its components are apparently... More

8vo, orig. printed wrappers, orig. stitching. Beijing: Beijing daxue yanjiu yuan wenshi bu 北京大學研究院文史部, [1935].

[with]:

—. Yi shi bu 譯史補 [Supplement on Translated Histories]. 8vo, binding as above. Beijing: same publisher, [1935].

After the Mongol Yuan empire collapsed in China in the mid-14th century, the succeeding Ming dynasty ordered the compilation of a History of the Yuan based on Chinese precedent. This book was published in 1370. The History of the Yuan was “compiled in greater haste than the other dynastic histories were, and in consequence it suffers from inadequate preparation and careless editing” (Twitchett &... More

Thousands of pages of manuscript notes, pasted-in clippings of scholarly articles by him and others, photos, etc. China: 1920s-30s.

Before Japan’s defeat in the Second World War, Kobayashi Yasuo (1874?-1964) worked as an engineer for the South Manchuria Railway Company (known as mantetsu 満鉄). This organization had been founded in 1905 upon Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War. It was nothing less than an organ of Japanese imperialism in northeastern China, controlling vital infrastructure — far exceeding the railroad connecting the major cities of the region — in what in 1931 became the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Mantetsu’s sphere... More

Folding maps. Five vols. in four. Large thick 8vo, cont. half-sheep & cloth-covered boards, spines lettered in gilt. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1893-95-[1939]-[1939]-1872 [& on verso of all titles, “Hong Kong: Printed at the London Missionary Society’s Printing Office, Reprinted in China, 1939”].

A complete set and in fine condition; this work remains much used today by the scholarly community. Legge (1815-97), Sinologist, wrote this work while a missionary living in Hong Kong. “His greatest and most lasting contribution to transcultural understanding was his massive translation Chinese Classics (first edition, 7 vols., 1861–72; second edition, 5 vols., partially ‘revised’... More

42; 32 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo, orig. semi-stiff wrappers (rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (both labels partly defective), new stitching. Kyoto: Takemura Shinbei, 1698.

First edition to be printed in Japan of this collection of Chinese literary texts, with the Preface of Isshiki Tokei (or Maeda Tokei, 1673-1744), the Kyoto Confucian scholar who served the Yamashiro yodo fiefdom lord Noriyuki Ishikawa. The book is printed in kanbun with reading marks. It is rare, with no copy in WorldCat (we did find a copy in the Nagoya Tsurumai Library).

The texts are:

1. LI Jiweng 李濟翁 (or... More