Imperially
Commissioned Profound Mirror of Ancient Essays, 64 juan
Qing
dynasty (1644�1911), Kangxi period (1662�1722)
Selected
by the Kangxi emperor (1654�1722; r. 1661�1722); compiled and annotated by Xu
Qianxue (1631�1711; jinshi of 1670); five-color edition
printed with red, black, yellow, orange, and green inks
Beijing:
Wuying dian, 1710
9
columns per half folio; 20 characters per column; small characters in half
columns with varying number of characters per half column; annotations in upper
margins vary in number of columns, in number of characters per column, and in
color of printing; no column lines in the main text sections; fine black
folding margin at center of folio with double black "fishtails";
single-line borders; overall dimensions of volumes: 31.7 x 17.3 cm; block sizes
of text: approx. 19.4 x 14.2 cm; stitched binding; in original yellow silk
covers
Inventory number: 03308
This
book is a comprehensive anthology of classical prose compiled by Minister of
Justice Xu Qianxue by order of the Kangxi emperor.� It includes pieces from the ancient periods through the end of
the Song dynasty in 1279.� It was
originally published by the palace printing bureau in 1685.
All
editions of the Guwen yuanjian feature marginal annotations and punctuation
in red ink in the same places, but various combinations of colors were used for
the other commentaries.� Blue was often
substituted for orange, and any given critic's commentary may appear in a
different color from that used in another printed set.
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