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CHINA, woodblock printing, 13th century. - TANG SH

CHINA, woodblock printing, 13th century. - TANG SHENWEI, and others. Xinxiu zhenghe jingshi zhenglei beiyong daguan bencao [Collection of prescriptions]

[China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)]. Folio (311 x 210 mm) in traditional concertina fold-out form, containing 19 mounted double-page leaves of bamboo paper (250 x 315 mm) with woodblock printing, 20 columns per double-page, 21 characters per column, thick folding margin at centre of each leaf, with double black fishtail motifs, single-line borders. 10 woodcut illustrations (each approximately 200 x 64 mm). Recent light blue cloth binding of traditional butterfl form, pale blue endpapers flecked with gold leaf. Condition: browned and stained, some small repairs; light soiling to covers. an illustrated printed herbal of the 13th century. The illustrations recall the western herbal illustrations of the 16th century, each is titled and the subjects include peppermint from Nanjing, Bai Yong lotus, chives, daffodil and a cymbidium orchid. For a long time this was most comprehensive and influential work on Chinese herbal medicine, it was originally called Jingshi zhenglei beiji bencao, and was gathered from 247 reference books. Its author, Tang Shenwei, was a celebrated doctor from the period of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127); the work attracted imperial interest and in the 3rd year of the Daguan period (1109) was re-edited by the palace physician Ai Cheng and published as an official medical text book. A second revision, by the palace physician Cao Xiaozhong, was carried out in the 6th year of the Zhenghe period (1116). The encyclopaedic nature of the work, collected from Buddhist and Daoist texts and older medical books, makes it a comprehensive record of medicine that would otherwise be unknown today. The earliest edition of this book was published in 1249 and it was re-carved several times in the Ming Dynasty. The woodblocks of the Ming editions are much bigger than those of earlier editions, averaging at least 250 mm. in height where those of the Yuan editions are invariably shorter than 200 mm. Although the present volume does not contain a date, its use of a 200 mm. woodblock shows that it was most likely to have been published in the 13th or early 14th century. Its thick black folding margin and simple double frame are additional characteristics which support this dating. It is not recorded in any bibliography from the Ming Dynasty, but in its errata and its short titular inscription in the beixin it is identical to the edition carved in the 15th year of the Wanli period. We may therefore assume that it formed the archetype for this later edition. The simplicity and practicality of the illustrations suggest that this was a private publication, not government-sponsored, and was intended to serve as a reference book for ordinary families.