Henjaku Soko retsuden kakkai [Commentary on Bianque Canggong zhuan].
24; 46 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, & Edo: Kawachiya Kihei et al., 1848.
Second edition (1st ed.: 1770); both editions are very rare. This book, in Chinese with Japanese reading marks, is the commentary by Asai (1706-80), the famous painter of bamboo and court physician of the Owari fiefdom, on the biography of Bian Que (active sometime in 5th-3rd centuries B.C.), the founding father of scientific Chinese medicine. This biography first appeared in Shiji [Records of the Grand Historian], written by Sima Qian. The... More