Yin zhi wen tu zheng 陰隲文圖證 [(Lord Wenchang's) Tract on Unpublicized Merits, with Illustrations & Verifications]

Numerous fine full-page woodcuts throughout. 67; 63 folding leaves (pagination continuous). Two vols. Tall 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. Haichang: Jiang shi bie xia zhai, 1929.



A critical and augmented illustrated edition of the Daoist religious text Lord Wenchang's Tract on Unpublicized Merits 文昌帝君陰隲文. Wenchang is an important deity in Chinese popular religion, often worshipped by students in search of academic success. This careful edition reflects his standing among the literati in late imperial China.


The editor and author of the critical notes is Xu Guangqing (1801-62), a philologist and physician from Haining, west of Shanghai who also authored several works of classical philology. For many years, he worked as a tutor for his neighbor Jiang Guangxu 蔣光煦 of the Biexia Zhai 別下齋 studio. When Jiang published his eponymous collectanea, Xu helped collate it. Lord Wenchang's Tract on Unpublicized Merits was published as part of that collectanea in 1844. Our copy is a 1929 reprint of that edition (the title slip on the outside of the box gives the date 1929).


The illustrations are by Fei Danxu (1802-50). The text is in the handwriting of Xu Guangqing's younger brother, Xu Guangzhi 許光治 (1808-55), a calligrapher and writer. Zhang Tingji 張廷濟 (1768-1848) "respectfully recorded" (jinglu 敬錄) in standard script calligraphy the original text of the tract with which the book opens.


Fine set and rare, preserved in a hantao.



References


Deng Ming 鄧明. Shouwang danqing: Con Shen Zhou dao Huang Bimo xiaoxiang yibai ren 守望丹青：從沈周到黃筆墨肖像一百人. Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2017.


Qian 錢菁 et al., eds. Haining lidai yijia xueshu yaolüe 海寧歷代醫家學術要略. Beijing: Zhongguo Zhongyiyao chubanshe, 2016.
Si Huiguo 司惠國 et al., eds. Caoshu tongjian 草書通鑒. Beijing: Lantian chubanshe, 2012.