Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index Series No. 7. Index to Ssu K'u Ch'üan Shu Tsung Mu and Wei Shou Shu Mu

2 p.l., x, vi, iv, ii, 195, [2] pp.; 2 p.l., 210, [2] pp. Two vols. 8vo, orig. printed wrappers (some foxing), orig. printed title labels on upper covers, orig. stitching. Beijing: Yanjing da xue tu shu guan Yin de bian zuan chu [Harvard Yenching University Library], February 1932.

First edition, part of the famous Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index Series. These indexes/concordances were important milestones, since the corpora had not previously been equipped with such reference works. Our volumes are indexes to the bibliography of Siku quanshu [Complete Library of the Four Treasuries], compiled in 1773-92, and of the books not included. For a detailed account of the making of this massive work, "an anthology to end all anthologies, an authoritative compendium of everything worthwhile ever written in Chinese, regardless of genre, epoch, or length" (Mark C. Elliott, Emperor Qianlong. Son of Heaven, Man of the World, p. 118), see R. Kent Guy's The Emperor's Four Treasuries. Scholars and the State in the Late Ch'ien-lung Era (Harvard University Press, 1987).

Hung (1893-1980), Chinese historian and sinologist, was dean for many years at Yenching University and also taught at Harvard. He was instrumental in raising the standards of scholarship in the study of Chinese classical writings.

Fine set.

❧ Anon., "An Annotated, Partial List of the Publications of William Hung" in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 24 (1962-63), no. 25.