Comprising the four volume set of a Chinese masterpiece of color printing and design, including over 280 prints in 33 categories of different scholarly interest, flowers, rocks, bronzes, poetic scenery, and bamboo... many with embossing technique; this edition is an expanded, more complete facsimile version of the 1934 edition by Zheng Zhenduo and Lu Xun which in turn, is a facsimile of the original edition published in 1644 by Hu Zhengyan; presented in silk brocade case.

PROVENANCE:

Collet's Chinese Bookshop, London (label)
Property formerly in the collection of Harry J. Haon II (1901-1989), thence by descent

Mr. Haon was employed by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and was promoted in 1954 to the Foreign Relations Department as Manager of the European Office, London, England, until his retirement in 1962. Mr. Haon continued to live part-time in London into the late 1970s. It is believed that many of the Asian arts in his collection were acquired during this time in London.

NOTE

According to the preface of the present work, the editor Zhen Zhenduo writes: "The original copy "Jian Pu" was edited by Yu Zhengyan in Ming dynasty Chongzhen seventeenth year equivalent to 1644. More than three hundred years later, I had the pleasure to see a copy collected by Mr. Wang Xiaoci. Then I worked collaboratively with Mr. Lu Xun to reprint this masterpiece as "Beiping Jianpu". We borrowed the original copy and worked with Rongbao Zhai. Unfortunately, by the time it was completed, both Mr. Lu Xun and Mr. Wang Xiaoci had passed away and did not see the copy. Due to the rarity of the 1941 version, Rongbao Zhai Xinji wishes to reprint a facsimile based on it and an additional copy [of a more complete Ming dynasty example] I acquired later. Therefore, a most completed version was published in 1952."

據序所言：「十竹齋主人為徽人胡正言，正言字曰從，流寓金陵，以製箋、篆印為業，時亦出版他種圖籍，壽至九十以上。《箋譜》印行於明崇禎十七年，即公元1644年，迄今三百余載，傳本至為罕見，予嘗於王孝慈先生許一遇之，時方與魯迅先生編《北平箋譜》，知燕京刻工足勝復印之責，遂假得之付榮寶齋重刻，時歷七載，乃克畢功，魯迅、孝慈二先生均不及見其成矣。今又經十余年，即此重刻之本亦不可得，榮寶齋新記欲再版行世，予嘗獲此譜第二部於淮上，以較前刻，凡第一部闕佚之頁，一一俱在，遂加補刻，終成完帙。」