[PU (Songling)] after.

Liao zhai quan tu [Complete Pictures of the Liao Studio].

Vol. 22 & vol. 56. 2 volumes, each measuring 25.5x20cm. Containing 12 & 12 full-page watercolour paintings on the right heightened in gilt and silver, with facing text in kaishu script on yellow gold-flecked paper, all mounted with embroidered pale blue silk, endpapers of gold-flecked pink paper, each volume with table of content on an additional double-leaf of gold-flecked pink paper. Vol. 22 with minor marginal worming to the prelims, minor restoration, overall a very good set. Bound in brocade textile-covered hardwood boards, title in seal-script on gold-leaf paper on top board. N. p., n. d. [but ca, 1870.

£45,000.00

Liaozhai Zhiyi (aka. Strange Stories of a Chinese Studio ) is a collection of nearly five hundred tales written by Pu Songling (1640-1715) in the early Qing dynasty. Liaozhai (Temporary Studio) was the name of the library/office at the author’s home in Shandong province, where he was working. Many of them appear to be based on folk-tales where the boundary between reality and the fantastic is blurred and where humans and the supernatural beings coexist.

Pu Songling compiled these short stories which usually have a moral dimension. He hints at injustice in Chinese society where corrupt officials collude with the powerful gentry to further their own interests. Some of the tales display sympathy with the common people.

The Liaozhai zhiyi stories hold a unique place in Chinese literature. For the first fifty years after the death of the author the stories circulated in manuscript form, but in 1766 a first edition was published in 16vols. by Zhao Qigao, the prefect of Yanzhou. It is called the Qingketing edition, named after a pavilion in Zhao’s government office. Our manuscript text follows the Qingketingedition. The first illustrated edition was published in 1886 by the Tongwen Shuju in Shanghai.

The present two volumes were part of a set of 90 volumes which was brought to Europe by a Russian officer who was stationed in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Seventeen of the volumes are preserved in the National Library of Austria (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) others are dispersed in archives or private collections (incl. the Martin Bodmer Foundation) throughout the world, some were broken up to be used for interior decoration, but many of them are lost.

Vol. 22 contains three stories: The second part of Da Nan (The Great Man, the story of an intelligent and pious boy who grows up with his mother and sets out to find his father), Shi qing xu (A Stone pure and luminous, is the story of a man who finds a beautiful stone while fishing and treasures it. It is subsequently stolen and retrieved), and the first part of Zeng Youyu (Zeng Youyu, is the story about six brothers and their quarrels). The first story is marked as “continued from previous volume” while the last story is “to be continued”.

Volume 56 contains eight stories: San chao yuan lao (Venerables of the Three Dynasties) is the story about a mysterious plaque that adorned an old hall together with a couplet on either side. Ye ming (Brightness at Night) is the story of a luminous fish monster that appeared out of the sea at night. Niao yu (Bird’s language) describes a Daoist who understood birds), Ling jiao (water chestnut, the story of Hu Dacheng hoping to get married) Xing ziyi is another story of a man who falls in love with a Daoist woman. Lu ya guan (Officer Lu, who gets invited to a banquet). Chen Xijiu (a name), and Yu qu e (Yu eliminates evil).

“The production of ”Liaozhai Quantu“ spanned at least 31 years. If we further combine the taboo of the word ”ning“, we can know that the creation of the albums (including copying the original text) began at the latest during the Daoguang period and was still in progress until the Guangxu period.” Webpage article by Xu Junjie .

Stock No.
255274