KANDOK CHŎNGYO or Gandok jeongyo 簡牘精要 [Essentials of the Bamboo Slips and Wooden Tablets].
3, 6, 67 folding leaves. Large 8vo, orig. yellow patterned wrappers (wrappers a little soiled), orig. block-printed title label on upper cover, new stitching. [Hansŏng: Mugyo sinp’an, 1869].
First edition of a rare anonymous manual for the general education of writers of classical Chinese from late Chosŏn Korea. The terms “bamboo slips” and “wooden tablets” originally referred to the material supports of writing in antiquity. In classical Chinese usage of later ages — and in this title — the phrases were used metonymically in reference to the implements and genres of classical Chinese writing. The Essentials of the Bamboo Slips... More