III.D. SUNG EDITIONS AND INSCRIPTIONS

Catalogs, Bibliographies and Colophons

This collection conveniently reproduces catalogs or sections of catalogs listing Song and Yuan editions. Around thirty titles, mostly dating from Qing times, are included. There is an index by stroke order and pinyin. Titles are listed under the original title only. This means that readers have to search a text under all variant titles to find all relevant editions.

The following is described by the Harvard-Yenching Library as "An index to descriptive notices of Chinese rare editions, appearing in 102 public and private library catalogs, collections of colophons and reading notes, and other bibliographical sources, which appeared from the Sung dynasty to the 1960s. The main body of the work comprises four-corner indices to the titles and authors of the rare books described. Stroke-count and pinyin indices to first characters are added for convenience. At the front of the volume is a list of the 102 sources (9 of them Japanese) with full bibliographical information. "

The following two studies contain appendices of extant and non-extant Song printed editions:

includes "A Bibliography of Southern Song Imprints from Hangzhou and Vicinity" (pp. 82-112), "A Bibliography of Southern Song Imprints from Liangzhe and Related Areas" (pp. 113-27), an index to these two bibliographies (pp. 113-34), and a list of blockcarvers' names (pp. 135-68).

For 253 Sung and Yuan editions in the Seikadō Library, see:

For holdings of Song editions in Taiwan, see:

For 36 Sung-Yuan editions of Buddhist sutras at Ryūkoku University, see:

Under each item, the author gives the available information concerning its title, cover, carvers' names, date, etc.

Reproductions

This is another outgrowth of the Quan Song wen project conducted by Sichuan daxue guji zhengli yanjiusuo. It is also part of a new large project, the Confucian Canon (Ru zang), this institution has embarked upon. This series contains 405 titles in over 10,000 juan. The vast majority of the volumes (through vol. 91) contain reproductions of individual literary collections of the work of Song authors (wenji); the remaining volumes (through vol. 107) are devoted to a selection of literary anthologies (zongji). The following selection criteria were used in identifying suitable editions: 1) Song and Yuan editions are generally included; 2) Ming and Qing editions are included if there are no earlier editions, if earlier editions are incomplete or if they have a different genealogy than extant earlier editions. 3) Post-Yuan editions are also included if they have been carefully collated or annotated. 4) Those reproduced in other reproduction series such as Sibu congkan (see VI.F) and Beijing tushuguan suocang zhenben congkan are excluded.
The last volume contains abstracts of all titles included. Each abstract traces the title's publication history, as well as its collection history (seals of ownership of particular copies as well as entries of editions in catalogs). It also gives a summary biography of the author and describes the contents. As in the Siku quanshu an individual title's abstract is also reproduced in its front pages.
The original copies have been scanned, enhanced, and fitted to a standard size. The original fonts and pagination have been preserved, but in the middle columns title, series title, and juan/page information has been electronically inserted.
Volume 108 contains indexes of titles and authors by stroke order. The table of contents, with abstracts, and the title and author indexes are also available at the website listed above.

This title includes reprints of the first page of the first chapter of over 660 Song printed titles and around 100 Song and Yuan woodblock illustrations. It also includes 55 titles from Xi Xia, Liao and Jin times and over 370 Yuan titles. Titles are organized by period and then by type of printer: government, family, and commercial printshops. Titles are also subdivided by region.
For each title there is a brief description listing bibliographic details including place and time of publication. Time references include dates converted to the western calendar.

For smaller collections of reproductions, focusing on specific holdings, see:

Research

Nagasawa Kikuya's extensive studies of nearly all Sung-Yuan editions are collected in

This includes exhibit catalogues (pp. 9-35, 93-124), a study of commercial publishing (36-89), lists of library holdings (219-270), names of block carvers (128-196), etc.

Ozaki Yasushi has written on Sung-Yuan editions of the dynastic histories and the Tzu-chih t'ung-chien.

Recall also the appropriate section of Nagasawa Kikuya's book noted above. This appeared originally as

which includes the carvers' names for 21 Sung editions. Names are ordered by stroke count.

lists printshop marks for government and private printers.

Inscriptions

For a guide to sources published up to 1987, see:

Now slightly out of date as many new resources have become available in recent years.

Indexes

For inscriptions appearing in Wang Hsiang-chih's cultural geography of Southern Sung, see the index appended to:

Of particular value, in addition to the usual bibliographic information, are indications of the dates of the author or compiler, the time period covered by the work, and the geographical region covered by the work. There is an alphabetical index to authors and compilers. And there is a list of persons whose epitaphs have been completely transcribed.

Reproductions and Series

This set contains reproductions of over 3000 inscriptions collected from around 100 compilations. Items were cut when reproduced elsewhere, when they did not contain the full text or when the text was deficient as to be incomprehensible. The compilers allege that only a small number has been left out this way. The layout of the original compilation is preserved, but page numbers were removed. There is a table of contents and an index of titles by stroke order. The usefulness of this collection is limited. It is in clear need of chronological, geographical, institutional or thematic indexes.

Rubbings of 1300 Sung inscriptions are reproduced in:

This collection of Chinese stone rubbings from 475 B.C. to A.D. 1949 has 8 volumes for the Sung period. The volumes are ordered chronologically. A separate index volume includes a place index and a stroke-count title index.

There are four volumes of Song epigraphic texts out of a total of sixteen. There is a title index by stroke order.

According to Zhao Chao's 赵超 general survey of archeological finds of biographical materials since 1949, around 400 items dating from the Song period have been identified. (Gudai muzhi tonglun 古代墓志通论. Beijing: Zijincheng chubanshe, 2003. pp. 181-184.) For recent collections of funerary inscriptions unearthed after 1949 with substantial Song coverage, consult:

So far the volumes for Henan (118 Song inscriptions), Shaanxi (13), Chongqing and environs (39), and Beijing (0) have been published. This series focuses on funerary inscriptions that have never been published before; those included in previous collections or circulating as rubbings are not included. Each volume includes a plate of each rubbing, a bibliographical description and the transcribed text. (The editorial policies require reproductions of the original steles, but those do not appear in the volumes published so far.) The volumes are either arranged by dynasty with place indexes at the end, or by place with a chronological index at the end. An index of all personal names mentioned in the inscriptions is also prescribed for all volumes according to the editorial policies.

This anthology includes punctuated transcriptions of newly unearthed funerary inscriptions from Jiangxi Province (Northern Song: 34; Southern Song: 59). It also includes 28 Song land contracts (Northern Song: 7; Southern Song: 21).

This collection includes around 200 stele inscriptions dating from the Song and Yuan periods.

Includes rubbings of 1861 types of iron coins. It covers the coins recovered in the large discovery made during a clean-up project along the Grand Canal in Gaoyou, Jiangsu, 1985. Each entry explains the coin's features and source. Entries are arranged by reign period. Pieces whose authenticity could not be guaranteed are not incldued. For those pieces on which opinion diverges as to their grades and features, all opinions are noted. Includes a general discussion of iron coins in the Song period, a chronology of major events relating to this topic, a chart of supervising government agencies by prefecture, a map of foundries and places where iron coin circulated.