Ryukyo Retsujo Den [Biographies of Exemplary Women] Liu Xiang, Lienü Zhuan Kyoto 1700

Ryukyo Retsujo Den [Biographies of Exemplary Women] Liu Xiang, Lienü Zhuan    Published Kyoto, 1700

124 full page woodcuts based on the 1606 Ming Chinese edition. 11 juan bound in 5 volumes, likely a later reprint from the original blocks of the 1653 Japanese edition. Kyoto, early 18th century. (Shinkoku) Ryūkyō Retsujo Den [Ko Retsujo Den] [Shinkoku Koretsujyo Den] Liu Xiang s Lives of Virtuous Women Title preceeded by the word Shinkoku [newly cut], but no pre-1653 Japanese edition recorded. Ryūkyō Liu Xiang [Han Dynasty, 206 BC AD 263]. Various paginations of folded leaves. 8 juan and 3 supplementary juan. A total of 124 full page b/w woodblock illustrations throughout vols 1-4 (the first 8 juan). 5 vols. 26cm x 18.5 cm. Stitched. Condition Eleven parts bound into five volumes. Original title slips. Later stitching. Good impressions especially of the illustrations. In remarkably good condition considering its age, some worming to the back of volume 4 but which does not intrude on to text or images. Slight marginal worming to a few leaves of volume 2 and, again, no intrusion. Occasional very slight marginal worming elsewhere. Very light pencil annotations to the second preface in volume one. Otherwise very clean. Description This copy conforms in all aspects to the 1653-54 first Japanese edition published in Kyoto which was derived from a Chinese illustrated edition (Gu Lie Nu Zhuan) of the late Ming dating from 1606 during the Wanli reign. This 1606 edition is regarded as one of the finest Huipai works emanating from the famous Huizhou school of printing active in the Ming dynasty in southern Anhui province. The Japanese first edition, in particular the woodblock illustrations, closely copied the Ming style of the 1606 Wanli edition and is therefore a direct link to a highly-regarded and extremely rare late Ming illustrated work. This copy was, however, printed later, probably early 18th century (but possibly earlier) and is done using the original blocks of the first Japanese edition, giving it the identical appearance. The fine, delicate and beautiful full page black-and-white woodblock illustrations reach back to, and demonstrate, the accomplishments of late Ming woodblock illustration. The publisher s colophon at the end of juan 8 is further interesting as, in this copy, the original part of the woodblock bearing the publisher s name of 1653-54 as per the British Museum copy has been excised and replaced with a neatly-inserted and exactly-fitting piece of wood with the publisher of this later edition, the characters carved in exactly the same style as in the first Japanese edition. Reading top to bottom the address of the printer/publisher is Nijiyotori in Tamayacho (a small district of Kyoto) and the printer/publisher s name is Uemura Jiroemon. This publisher is known to have been active in the 1650s so this work is presumably testament to the longevity of the publishing house although we can find no work by this publisher later than 1671. The date of the publisher s colophon is exactly as per the British Museum copy: 1653. The date on the last page of the final volume is also the same: 1654. All text in Japanese, kanji (Chinese characters) with Japanese reading marks. Pagination of folded leaves: Vol 1: Prefaces: 5,5,4,2; Juan 1: 1, 28; Juan 2: 1, 24. (total 29 illus) Vol 2: Juan 3: 1, 25; Juan 4: 1, 25. (total 30 illus) Vol 3: Juan 5: 1, 28; Juan 6: 1, 31 (total 30 illus) Vol 4: Juan 7: 1, 27; Juan 8: 1, 35 (total 35 illus) Vol 5: Xu Shang: 3, 47; Xu Zhong: 3, 36; Xu Xia: 2, 37 (no illus) Background The Lie Nu Zhuan was first compiled in the Western Han dynasty by Liu Xiang (79-8 BC). It was later amended and reedited and, via many bibliographical complexities and editions, arrived in the Ming dynasty comprising (as here) eight chapters plus three supplementary chapters by an unknown later author. The book served as a standard Confucianist textbook for the moral education of women in traditional China for two millennia.1 It is the earliest extant Chinese work on the moral education of.