Jia xuan chang duan ju 稼軒長短句 [Long and Short Verses from the Hut of Planting Grain]

12 juan in two vols. 109; 112 folding leaves. Small 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. [China]: Siyin zhai 四印齋, [1888?].




Pocket-sized edition of this famous collection of lyrics. Lyrics, or ci (tz'u) 詞 poetry, was "one of the major poetic genres in China." The genre "emerged in the T'ang dynasty in response to the popularity of foreign musical tunes newly imported from Central Asia." Lyrics are particularly associated with the literature of the Song dynasty (The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, vol. 1, 846-49).


Xin Qiji (1140-1207) was a Song official who fought the invading Jurchens. His lyrics are imbued with "patriotic sentiment" (Jia, Zhonghua guobao tudian, 614).


Our book is a "reduced-size" (suo 縮) version, with some emendations, of the edition published by Guangxin Academy 廣信書院 in 1299 (Dade 大德 3). This edition, in turn, was based on the so-called Xinzhou 信州 edition of the Song period. The Guangxin Academy had been founded at Xin's former residence. It later changed names to Jiaxuan Academy in reference to Xin's style name.


Our book carries the imprint Siyin zhai [Studio of the Four Kinds of Self-Cultivation] on the centerfold, and two colophons, one in running calligraphy, by Wang Pengyun 王鵬運 (1840-1904, style name Bantang laoren 半塘老人). The first is dated 1888 (wuzi). Wang was the publisher of the Siyin zhai series of lyrics. There is also an earlier colophon by the bibliophile, printer, and bookseller Huang Pilie 黃丕烈 (1763-1825), dated 1799 (Jiaqing jiwei).


Fine copy.