Ji xiang guan cong shu 稷香館叢書 [Collectanea from Fragrance of Millet Hall]

Ten vols. Small 8vo, orig. title slips, orig. stitching. [China]: Liaoyang Wu shi 遼陽吳氏, 1935.




First edition of this facsimile collection of philological studies from the Qing period. Wu Ou wrote in his Preface to the series that "I enjoy gathering books and I like philology." The branch of philology represented in this collection is paleography, with several studies centering on the ancient dictionary Shuowen jiezi, "the first dictionary of Chinese characters" and a "tremendous achievement in the history of this non-alphabetical writing system" (Bottéro, "Ancient China," 59).
The collection contains previously unpublished material. Notably, regarding the first item in the collection, Wu remarks:

Shuowen yi gaoben 說文疑稿本 [Draft of Queries Regarding "Shuowen jiezi"], 12 juan, originally belonging to Mr. Ding's 丁 Hall of Eight Thousand Scrolls (Baqian juan lou 八千卷樓). Toward the end of the Guangxu period (1875-1908), it came into the possession of General Feng 豐 [read: Feng 鳳, for Fengšan 鳳山 (1860-1911)]. After it left Yumen 禹門 [i.e., Fengšan], the manuscript passed to me. In the catalog for the Ding collection, the item was already listed as of unknown authorship. Among recent writers, few are aware of this book. On the basis of its use of Qianlong draft paper, and its sequence being dong 東, zhong 終, jia 甲, I infer that it is a work of a writer of the Yongzheng (1723-35) to Qianlong (1736-96) periods.

The works included in the collection, several of which are reproduced from manuscripts, are:


1. Shuowen yi gaoben, for which see above.


2. Shuowen Duan zhu qian ji 說文段注簽記 [Cursory Notes on Duan Yucai's Commentary to "Shuowen jiezi"], by Wang Niansun 王念孫 (1744-1832).


3. Shuowen zhuchao an 說文注鈔案 [Cases of Excerpted Notes on "Shuowen jiezi"], "manuscript draft," by Gui Ji 桂馥 (1736-1805).


4. Shuowen dawen shuzheng 說文答問疏證 [Subcommentary to "Questions and Answers Regarding Shuowen jiezi"], by Xue Chuanjun 薛傳均.


5. Xiaoxue shiyu 小學識餘 [What Is beyond Knowledge of Philology], by Zhu Junsheng 朱駿聲 (1788-1858). Our translation of the title is tentative.


6. Shuowen Duan zhu nian wu 說文段注拈誤手稿 [Picking Out Errors from Duan Yucai's Commentary to "Shuowen jiezi"], by Zhu Junsheng.


7. Xiangxing wen shi 象形文釋 [Explanations of Pictographic Characters], by Xu Hao 徐灝 (fl. 19th century).


8. Shuowen da xiao Xu ben luyi 說文大小徐本錄異 [Record of Differences between the Two Xu Brothers' Editions of "Shuowen jiezi"], by Xie Zhangting 謝章鋌 (1820-1903).



Wu Ou, of Liaoyang, was born in 1899. We know little else about him. According to the book collector Lun Ming 伦明 (1875-1944), Wu named his studio after the millet because it grew so abundantly in his home region (Lun, Lun Ming quanji, 141). Lun Ming wrote a colophon (dated 1935) for Xu Hao's book. The collection has a Preface (1935) by Yu Xingwu 于省吾 (1896-1984).


Fine and fresh set, preserved in a hantao.