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Eastern Culture Nucleus: Chinese Rare Books in the USC Libraries

Lithography 石印

Illustrations and Explanations of Ancient Bricks from the Qianpi Pavilion (Qianpiting guzhuan tushi 千甓亭古塼圖釋二十卷) consists of rubbings and commentaries of ancient brick inscriptions and motifs dated from the Han (202 BC to 220 AD) to Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. It was compiled and photolithographed in 1891 by Lu Xinyuan 陸心源 (1834-1894; courtesy name 字 Gangfu 剛甫), a renowned late Qing collector, bibliophile, scholar, and official. These ancient bricks were collected by Lu primarily from his hometown Gui'an 歸安 (present Huzhou 湖州 in Zhejiang 浙江 province) and surrounding areas and used to be kept in the Qianpi Pavilion 千甓亭, a pavilion dedicated to the brick collection in the front yard of his residence. Each commentary in the catalogue contains a detailed description of the dimension of the brick and an in-depth interpretation of the inscription(s). USC's copy was donated by Dr. Chow Tse-tsung 周策縱 (1916-2007), a world-famous scholar on the May Fourth Movement and The Dream of the Red Chamber(Hong lou meng 紅樓夢). The two ex libris seals 周振湘印 and 澹肰珍秘 on the caption title page (卷端頁) of the book come from Zhou Zhenxiang 周振湘 (literary name 號 Danweng 澹翁), a notable collector active during the Republican period.

Further Reading:

Ye, Keqin 叶克勤. “Lu Xinyuan and the Ancient Bricks Kept in Qianpi Pavilion 陆心源及其千甓亭藏砖.” Collections 收藏 no.7 (2016): 12-19.

Other Fine Examples of Lithography Printing from the Chinese Rare Book Collection:

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Commentary and Corrections to the Sweated [Bamboo] Strips 汗簡箋正七卷 (1889) 12
Sweated [Bamboo] Strips (Hanjian 汗簡) is a paleographic dictionary compiled by Guo Zhongshu 郭忠恕 (d. 977), a well-known painter, calligrapher and paleographer of the Five Dynasties 五代 (907-960) and early Song dynasty. The compilation follows the Explaining single-component Graphs and Analyzing compound Characters (Shuowen jiezi 說文解字) tradition to arrange Chinese characters by radicals (部首), and it draws on a variety of seventy-one textual sources, such as Shuowen jiezi, Confucian classics like Ancient Book of Documents (Gu shangshu 古尚書) and Ancient Book of Changes (Gu zhouyi 古周易), and inscriptions from stone steles. Commentary and Corrections to the Sweated Strips (Hanjian jianzheng 汗簡箋正), the first in-depth evidential research on Hanjian , was written by Zheng Zhen 鄭珍, a scholar of late Qing dynasty. The ex libris seal "獨山莫繩孫字仲武印" on the displayed page comes from Mo Shengsun 莫繩孫 (c. 1844-1919; courtesy name 字 Zhongwu 仲武), second son of Mo Youzhi 莫友芝 (1811-1871) who was a prestigious late Qing scholar, book collector and bibliophile.
Donated by Dr. Chow Tse-tsung. Printer's colophon (牌記) date: 1889 (Jichou year of the Guangxu reign 光緒屠維赤奮若, i.e. 光緒己丑年). Edition: 影印石印本.

Further Reading:
- Hay, Jonathan. “Guo Zhongshu's Archaeology of Writing.” Journal of Chinese History 3, no. 2 (2019): 233–324. doi:10.1017/jch.2018.39.
media/hanjianjianzheng.jpg plain 2021-03-30T16:14:48-07:00 Link to the catalog record in the USC Libraries
This collection of poems was written by Li Ciming 李慈銘 (1830-1894; literary name 號 Yueman 越縵; alternative name 別號 Master of the Baihua Jiangfu Pavilion 白華絳柎閣主), an influential official and scholar of the late Qing dynasty. USC's copy contains handwritten punctuation marks and commentaries from the donor Dr. Chow Tse-tsung 周策縱 (1916-2007), a world-famous scholar on the May Fourth Movement and The Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢).
Donated by Dr. Chow Tse-tsung. Date/edition: 1890 | 光緒十六年石印本.
"Inscription for the Stone Gate Pillars (Shique ming 石闕銘)," a prose essay in praise for the establishment of new stone gate pillars by the Emperor, was written by Lu Chui 陸倕 (470–526), a noteworthy poet and writer of parallel prose (駢文) during the Liang 梁 dynasty (502-557). USC's copy is a lithographic edition of a late-Qing manuscript version of the prose.
Colophon date: 1900 (Gengzi year of the Guangxu reign 光緒庚子).
Practice Tutorial to the Complete Explanation of Algebra 代數備旨全草 (1905) 5
This book was compiled by Xu Xilin 徐錫麟 (1873-1907), a late Qing revolutionary. It was intended to serve as a practice tutorial to the textbook Complete Explanation of Algebra (Daishu beizhi 代數備旨) written by Calvin Wilson Mateer (1836-1908) and first published in 1891. Mateer was a pioneer American Presbyterian missionary in Shandong 山東 province and founder of the first Christian college in China.
Date/edition: 1905 | 清光緒三十一年石印本.

Further Reading:
- Martzloff, Jean-Claude. "Appendix 1: Chinese Adaptations of European Mathematical Works (from the 17th to the Beginning of the 20th century)." In A History of Chinese Mathematics, 371-89. New York: Springer, 1997.
media/algebra.jpg plain 2021-02-04T10:18:25-08:00 Link to the catalog record in the USC Libraries
This book consists of inscriptions from 364 ritual bronze objects dated from the Shang (1600-1046 BCE) to Han (202 BCE-220 AD) dynasties. It was compiled by Zhu Shanqi 朱善旂 (courtesy name 字 Jianqing 建卿) during the Daoguang 道光 reign (1820-1850) of Qing dynasty. USC's copy is a large photolithographic edition printed by his nephew Zhu Zhizhen 朱之榛.
Donated by Dr. Peter Marie Suski. Date/edition: 1908 | 清光緒三十四年照相石印本.
This is an illustrated catalogue of bronzes from the imperial collection of the Qing dynasty, which was compiled in 1793 by order of the Qianlong 乾隆 emperor (1711-1799). It is the sequel to the more comprehensive Catalogue of Xiqing Antiquities (Xiqing gujian 西清古鑑) completed in 1751. Printed in 1911, USC's copy is a fine lithographic facsimile of a manuscript version of the catalogue from the Palace of Tranquil Longevity (甯壽宮). It beautifully reproduced the imperial seals stamped on the contents page of the original manuscript.
Donated by Dr. Peter Marie Suski. Date/edition: 1911 | 清宣統三年上海商務印書館石印本.

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Illustrations and Explanations of Ancient Bricks from the Qianpi Pavilion 千甓亭古塼圖釋二十卷 (1891) 17
This catalogue consists of rubbings and commentaries of ancient brick inscriptions and motifs dated from the Han (202 BC to 220 AD) to Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. It was compiled and photolithographed in 1891 by Lu Xinyuan 陸心源 (1834-1894; courtesy name 字 Gangfu 剛甫), a renowned late Qing collector, bibliophile, scholar, and official. These ancient bricks were collected by Lu primarily from his hometown Gui'an 歸安 (present Huzhou 湖州 in Zhejiang 浙江 province) and surrounding areas and used to be kept in the Qianpi Pavilion 千甓亭, a pavilion dedicated to the brick collection in the front yard of his residence. Each commentary in the catalogue contains a detailed description of the dimension of the brick and an in-depth interpretation of the inscription(s). The ex libris seals 周振湘印 and 澹肰珍秘 on the caption title page (卷端頁) of the book come from Zhou Zhenxiang 周振湘 (literary name 號 Danweng 澹翁), a notable collector active during the Republican period.
Donated by Dr. Chow Tse-tsung. Date/edition: 1891 (Xinmao year of the Guangxu reign 光緒辛卯) | 石印影印本.

Further Reading:
- Ye, Keqin 叶克勤. “Lu Xinyuan and the Ancient Bricks Kept in Qianpi Pavilion 陆心源及其千甓亭藏砖.” Collections 收藏 no.7 (2016): 12-19.
media/qianpiting.jpg plain 2021-03-30T16:34:15-07:00 Link to the catalog record in the USC Libraries