Chinese block-books and manuscripts in the Russian State Library

Serguei A. Kazantsev

1. Block-Book Collection
 

General Characteristics  

The Russian State Library has got more than 70.000 Chinese block-books (xylographs) which date back to the XIII - XIX centuries. Among them are original publications of the Song, Yuan, Ming ages (including those which were printed from old restored boards) as well as their facsimile reproductions. The collection also includes the following types of publications: books, serials, albums, atlases, maps, prints.

With regard to its contents the collection is universal i.e. all branches of the traditional Chinese science, all main genres of the Chinese classical and folk literature as well as the popular literature (people's reference books and books of home cures, calendars, fortune-telling books, teaching materials) are represented in it. There one can find printed materials of different centres of book-printing. The most famous centres were Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou. The publications from various regions of China are not of equal value in terms of printing and publishing designs. The latter also depends on a printing house where the boards were engraved. For a long time in China there had been different editions - corrected "zhengben" and ordinary "fuben". The best publications were issued by government printing-houses. For editorial work there were set up commissions which drew famous scholars. The best calligraphers, engravers and pressmen worked there. They had paper and Indian ink of the best sorts. That is why the publications of these printing-houses are notable for their good printing design and thorough editing of the texts. Among them the court publications are the best.

There are also publications issued by private printing-houses that belonged to Chinese scholars-bibliophiles. It is known that the Chinese bibliophiles were often not simply collection keepers but also were in search for rare books and manuscripts, they thoroughly collated different editions of books and lists of manuscripts to establish authenticity of texts as well as were engaged in publishing activities. Owing to their efforts many rare books have remained intact until this day. The editions which were printed in their printing-houses are notable for especially thorough selection of the original and corrected texts. With regard to both printing design and quality of text reproduction the publications issued by book-stores are the worst.

The main characteristic of our collection is the fact that it consists of a number of independently formed collections. That accounts for the presence, as a rule, of several editions of the same works that gives an opportunity to select the most reliable text in terms of authenticity as well as creates favourable conditions for textual studies.

The collection of the Chinese block-books originates from the collection of the Rumyantsev Museum library founded by the Russian statesman and diplomat Nikolai P. Rumyantsev (1754-1826). The first Chinese block-books were acquired by the library soon after its foundation and were regarded as rarities. The first large acquisition of Chinese books, which became the basis of the Chinese collection, took place in 1872 - that was the collection of Chinese block-books and manuscripts obtained by the famous Russian sinologist Skachkov K.A. (1821-1883) during his stay in China.

The Skachkov's collection consists of gifts and donations of his Chinese friends and officials as well as of books purchased in book-stores during the mass sale of private libraries which took place during the Taiping insurrection. The collection numbers more than 12 000 volumes of block-books. A wide range of Skachkov's interests, his competence in many branches of humanities and natural sciences as well as his perfect command of the Chinese language ( he was the first among Europeans to translate the works of Chinese astronomers) determine the value of the collection, its universal contents and integrity. The Skachkov's collection comprises the most valuable works on history, geography, economy, law, military science, belles-letters (including common publications and folklore). Publications on agriculture in China, handicraft (porcelain manufacturing, etc.) astronomy, medicine should be mentioned especially as they are very rare in ordinary sinological collections.

In 1939 the library (since 1925 the Lenin State Library) received the collection of the Russian Imperial diplomatic mission (1861-1917). This collection is the second after the Skachkov's one with regard to the number of books and value. It numbers about 6,000 (six thousand) block-books. This way the library added many encyclopaedias, historical works and codes of laws to its collection. At the same time the library received the collection of the Russian Peking religious mission (1715-1922). Despite the damage suffered by the collection during the so-called boxers' insurrection (1901) the Lenin State Library received several valuable publications on history, geography and the Chinese law. At the Chinese book market the mission staff members regularly acquired the most important editions which they needed for their scientific and translation work. It is known that the famous Russian sinologists Yakinf Bichurin, Palladii Kafarov, V.P.Vasiliev, translators A.Leontyev, I.Rassokhin and others worked at the mission and the contents of the collection reflects this fact.  

At the beginning of 1940-s the library holdings were replenished by the collection of the Eastern Institute in Vladivostok (1899-1939) in the amount of about 10,000 volumes of block-books. The Eastern Institute in Vladivostok closed in 1939 was the second training centre of sinologists in Russia after the St. Petersburg University. Among its professors and faculty members were Pozdneev A.M., Schmidt P.P., Rudakov A.V., etc. Staff members of the Institute often went to China to acquire books for the Institute library.  

The Lenin State Library received the Daozang published in the age of Wanli (1573-1620), Fojing of 1706, the Tushu jicheng encyclopaedia published in the Kangxi period.  

The bibliographical description of the collection doesn't meet the requirements set for scientific description of blockbooks (including certain methods of attributing the publications).

The library has got a separate catalogue of the Skachkov's block-book collection compiled by him and his assistants. The description often lacks the author's name, full title, place and date of publication as well as statement of pagination.

It should be mentioned that the sinological collection of the Russian State Library (the former Lenin State Library) has the largest collection of Chinese block-books which does not have a printed catalogue. The absence of the printed catalogue hinders the use of the collection by both Russian and foreign scholars. 

Encyclopaedias and Serials  

The Chinese encyclopaedias like "leishu" and serial libraries "congshu" form the core of both our collection and any other sinological collection.

The Chinese "leishu" encyclopaedia is a collection of extracts from different works concerning various subjects and is arranged systematically according to categories. They are especially valuable because they reproduce full texts or extracts of the works which haven't remained intact until up to now and were restored completely or partly owing to the encyclopaedias.

In our collection there are first edition encyclopaedias of the Ming age, some of which were destroyed during the rule of Man chao.

They reproduce texts that are the most complete ones with regard to their authenticity.

"Taiping yulan" (10th century, 1000 juan's) is the earliest Chinese encyclopaedia which is represented by the 1818 publication. (It includes extracts of 1700 works; most of them haven't escaped destruction to this day). This publication was printed by the famous Chinese bibliophile Zhang Heipeng (1755-1816). He reproduced the publication of 1809. The boards had not remained and Zhang Heipeng used the manuscript which was kept by the famous scholar and bibliophile Ruan Yuan. In its turn the 1809 edition was printed from the manuscript written by the Chinese scholar and bibliophile He Yuanxi who had earlier manuscript copies and printed fragments of the Beisong edition.  

There are the "Cefu yuangui" (11th century, 1000 volumes) encyclopaedia of 1647; the first edition of the "Guangbo wuzhi" (XVII century, 50 copies) encyclopaedia of 1607; the "Yuan jian lei han" (140 volumes) encyclopaedia which was compiled by the edict of the Emperor Kangxi, i.e. the first court edition of 1710; the first edition of the "Gezhi jing yuan" (24 volumes) encyclopaedia of 1735, etc.  

The "Congshu" serial libraries are the traditional type of Chinese publications, in which the works are unified either according to a chronological indication, unity of subjects or principle of property of some scholar-bibliophile or state book depository. This kind of publications was used by its compilers for publishing or facsimile reproduction of rare and valuable manuscripts and block-books. Owing to "congshu" serial libraries many works of the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming ages have escaped destruction until present.

The earliest "chongshu-s" in our collection date from the Ming age. "Tang Song congshu" includes works which date from the Tang and Song ages while some of them were included in "chongshu" in the facsimile reproduction.

"Zhaodai congshu" (the 1833 edition, 100 volumes) compiled by Zhan Chao (XVII century) appears on the list of books prohibited in the age of of the Qing dynasty and thus has remained in a very small amount of copies.  

The "Zhi-bu zu zhai congshu" (the 1776 edition, 150 volumes) serial library comprises texts of rare books and manuscripts from the collection of the Chinese bibliophile Bao Tingbo (1728-1814).

"The "Mishu ershi nian yizhong" (100 juan's) serial library, compiled by Wang Shihan and printed in the Kangxi age, reproduces texts of the works of the Tang and Song ages. At present it is proved that five of them are falsifications. By the Chinese scholars' opinion the compiler of the other above mentioned "Zhaodai congshu" Zhang Chao, while editing, committed corruptions of the texts that is why they can not be considered quite authentic.

Historical Materials  

This part including historical sources and works on the history of China outnumbers other parts of the collection which reflects the place and influence of history in the traditional Chinese science.

Works of the official Chinese historiography as well as works of Chinese historians are represented in our collection. Works of the official historiography are represented by a set of all main traditional genres that are invariably present in all sinological collections: "zheng shi" dynastic stories; "gangjian" chronicles - looking glasses, beginning from the Sima Guang work and up to the last "Yupi lidai tongjian jilan" ("Allembracing looking glass", 1767), covering the history of China till the end of the Ming dynasty with critical notes of the Emperor Qian long; "ji shi benmo" subject historical compilations; "zou yi" collections of reports of the officials of different dynasties; biographies of officials; "difangzhi" historical and geographical descriptions.

The collection of the "san tong" historical encyclopaedias - "Tongdian", "Tongzhi", "Wenxian tongkao" - is complete together with 3 "xu" and 3 "qingchao" sequels covering the history of Qing dynasty till 1785.

In the "Historical Materials" part we can single out the following groups of the most rare publications: the earliest publications (before the Ming dynasty), the Ming dynasty publications (collected histories, works on the history of various periods and on the history of the Qing dynasty), editions of the first years of the Qing dynasty rule.  

One of the earliest publications is the "Ershiyi shi" ("Collection of 21 dynastic histories") which was printed off from the restored boards of the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. This edition remains valuable as a monument of the Chinese block-book printing.  

Another early publication in our collection was printed ofF from the board carved in the Yuan age in 1345. These are the commentaries to the book of historical legends "Shujing" ("Shuzhuan") written by the Song scholar Cai Shen.  

The overwhelming majority of sources on the history of China and works of Chinese historians reached us through the Qing dynasty publications. This is accounted for by the fact that official authorities if the ruling Qing dynasty set themselves to elaborate a new official historical concept that would prove the legality of the new dynasty which came to power. They declared war against all historical heritage of China, beginning from the ancient time. Many historical sources and works of Chinese historians were prohibited and destroyed or thoroughly altered, therefore they can not be considered reliable in terms of authenticity.  

It especially concerns historical sources and works on the history of the Ming dynasty, works of the Ming historians and sources compiled, edited or commented by them. Even a number of materials on the early history of the Manchu dynasty were confiscated and "edited" anew during "correction" and "improvement" of the official version.  

The historical encyclopaedia "Xu wenxian tongkao" (1565), compiled by the Ming scholar Wang Qi, is available in our collection in two editions - the 2nd, early Qing edition of 1664 and the 3rd edition of 1887 - that gives an opportunity to a historian to trace the transformation of the official historical concept of the Qing age.

A traditional historical compilation like "Jishi benmo" devoted to the history of the Yuan dynasty ("Yuan shi ji shi benmo") was compiled by the Ming scholar Chen Banzhan in 1598 and printed in 1606. The book was prohibited by Qing authorities that were strongly "partial" to the Ming version of the history of the other foreign dynasty.  

The historical work of the Ming scholar Yu Shenxing (1545-1607) on the Chinese history from the ancient time till the XVII century - "Gu shan bi zhu" (18 juan's) - was printed in 1613 and is available at the library. This book was prohibited, too.

And finally, here are some sources on the history of the Ming dynasty which escaped destruction and were not edited by a Ming "editor ".

Already in the first years of the rule of the Qing dynasty Chinese historians, which served the Manchu authorities, tried to prove the historical expediency of the fall of the Ming dynasty and normality of the rule of a new dynasty. They started compiling the history of the Ming dynasty ("Mingshi") which reflected a new official version of the history of this period. On the pretext of the necessity to use various sources in their work the Manchu authorities collected and destroyed the most part of the official Ming historiography and works of Ming historians.
 
There are two collections of notes and biographies of Ming officials that were a part of the official Ming historiography: "Huang Ming kaiguo gongcheng lu", compiled by Huang Jin (1484-1512) and printed in 1507, and "Huang Mingcheng jin ji lu" (18 juan's), compiled by Huang Xun (1529) and published in 1549.

The library has also holds the notes of the Ming scholar Ji Liuqi on the last years of the rule of the Ming dynasty: "Ming ji bei lüe" in 24 juan's and "Ming ji nan lue" in 18 juan. Both works were printed in 1671. The latter concerning the rule of the Ming Emperors in the south of China was prohibited.

Belles-Lettres

The sinological collection of the Russian State Library includes literary works and theoretical treatises of the IV century B.C. to the beginning of the XX century printed in the block-book form in XVII-XVIII centuries. Editions compiled and edited in the Qing age prevail. The collection comprises works of all main trends and schools of the Chinese literature and theory of belles-letters, works of different genres and styles.  

One can single out three groups of rare works: early editions (pre-Ming age editions), editions of the Ming age (many of them were either prohibited or falsified during the rule of the Manchu dynasty) and, finally, editions of the so-called common literature and folklore. The novel "Mu tianzi zhuan zhushu" is the earliest edition among literary works of our collection. This is the facsimile reproduction of the Song dynasty edition published in the "Tianyige" printing-house Ming dynasty.

There are also works of writers of the Ming age, collections of literary works compiled, edited or commented by Ming men of letters. The so-called "prohibited" editions are among them.  

The literary anthology of the 10th century "Wen yuan yinghua" (1000 juan-s) is represented by the Ming age edition. The famous reader "Wenxuan" (10th century, 60 juan-s), compiled by Xiao Tong and printed in the Ming age with commentaries of Zhu Guozhen (1557-1632) is available at the library. Many works of Zhu Guozhen are on the list of prohibited books. "Wenxuan" is also of interest in terms of the art of printing design: the two-coloured print (Indian ink and cinnabar), on the cover there is a mark "The book was carved in Fujian province .

There are two collections of novels of the "ruaben" genre; one part of them was edited and the other one was written by the famous Ming literary man Feng Menglong (1574-1646). The "Jingshi tongyan" ("A word easily understood and warning the world") collection of 1624 and the "Xing shi hengyan" ("A right word which awakens the world") collection of 1627 are available at the Russian State library.

It's common knowledge, that in China poetry and prose in wenyan enjoyed high status. The literary production of these genres were published by government and court printing houses. Edited by specially established commissions they repeatedly appeared, sometimes in luxurious editions. Both government book depositories and the owners of private collections willingly collected them.

The works of the so-called "common genres" (a novel, a drama, a short story in spoken language) did not have much significance. They were persecuted by the Manchu authorities, who considered them to be not quite loyal and contradicting Confucian morality. Most works of these genres are considered anonymous as their authors were ashamed of their trade. In most cases they were published by small book shops, the owners of which guided by their personal taste or commercial interests more often than not changed a text, abridged it or supplemented with new details. Before being published, many of these works were distributed in. manuscripts. This accounts for the fact that these works are known in several or many variants.  

Ordinary book shops published books in cheap editions; they used paper and Indian ink of very poor quality. Most Chinese bibliophiles and government depositories ignored editions of this kind. That is the reason why a great number of the above mentioned genres or their separate editions have not remained intact to our time at all or very few copies have been preserved.  

As far as our collection is concerned, we have the first editions of some works of these genres or the earliest editions of those preserved; the first editions of the given variant of some works or the earliest editions of the variant; editions with introductions and commentaries of Chinese literati, an author's contemporaries, which give a chance to judge the traditional criteria of appreciation of literary works; editions, which are not fixed in printed catalogue of the works of these genres; editions, containing additional (in comparison with other ones) information about the author of the work, place and date of edition; editions published in private book houses of Chinese scholar-bibliophiles.  

Among them there is a well-known novel of Lo Guanzhong "Sanguo yanyi" in a rare edition of 1644. It is supplied with the commentary of the famous Chinese literary Jin Shengtan (1610-1661), who was executed by Manchu authorities.  

The publication of the anonymous novel "The Shadow of the Flower on the Curtain" ("Ge lian hua ying") with an introduction of 1670 is available in two copies of a similar edition, but one of the copies stands out for its good condition, legibility of printed characters and well preserved illustrations. The other was evidently printed many years after, from old and effaced boards.  

The collection of Chinese folklore works can be of special interest for a researcher. According to the conclusion made by specialists, this collection is one of the biggest and most valuable ones in our country. Its value lies in the variety of the presented genres, in the plentitude of local genres as well as in the uniqueness of some copies. The genres of Chinese folklore, such as tanci, guci, zidishi, baojuan, muyu, qu, etc., are represented in our collection.  

The works in baojuan ("precious scrolls") genre, which can be of interest not only for philologists, but for historians, sociologists, experts in religion and others, can be found in the editions of XVII-XIX centuries. Among works, there is "Ku gong wu dao jing", edited in 1698. An analogous edition without a date is registered in a summary catalogue of the baojuan by Li Shiyi.  

The collection of the folklore works of the "muyu" genre, according to the Russian philologist B. Riftin, is unique, as it comprises the works which are not included in a printed catalogue of this genre. It should be noted, that nearly each of the remaining copies of the literary works in the so-called "common genres" and folklore is of great value to scholars since they may turn out to be a missing link in the chain, helping to restore an original text, the history of its existence and spreading, as well as its appraisal by contemporaries.

Illustrated Editions  

Our book collection is of considerable interest to specialists in history of Chinese engraving book print, as it gives an opportunity to trace the development and improvement of Chinese artists', engravers' and printers' mastery within the period of XIIIth to the beginning of the XXth century.  

The collection presents various specimens of book engraving, reflecting traditions, characteristic of Northern and Southern schools, different centres of book printing, and a number of printing houses and masters. It's hard enough to trace the development of Chinese masters' individual manners: most of the editions do not give the names of those, who made the prints.  

One can single out three main groups among the illustrated editions at our disposal: the earliest editions of pre-Qing time; editions which contain the best samples of the famous Chinese masters' book engraving or mark a certain period in the development of book drawing (multicoloured printing) and finally, the editions of the so-called "common literature", the illustrations to which have become the principal genre of book drawing in the XVI-XVIII centuries.

The collection also has engravings of the Song and Yuan periods, reproduced in facsimile, at its disposal - which enable us to judge the earliest period of the Chinese book engravings' developmenl. For instance, the copy of the illustrated "Erya" dictionary, available at our collection, represents a copy of a Song block-book, which was then engraved and printed in 1527. We also have other reproductions of Song and Yuan illustrated editions.

The earliest authentic samples of book engravings from our collection are Ming block-books. They are the engravings of Buddhist and Daoist texts, of which the type of introductory illustration is typical. Illustrations like this were printed separately from the main text and then were pasted in the beginning of a pleat-book. One can come across a colour print and additional colouring in some illustrations to Buddhist and Daoist stories.

Illustrated editions on the subjects of Confucian morality are also the early samples of book drawing. "Historical Stories about Good and Evil Deeds of the Emperors" ("Di jian tu sho") (edited in 1573) are provided with paginated plot illustrations. The names of the artists and engravers as well as any indication of the printing house are not given in the book.

In "The Collection of Poems by Gu Zhengyi" "U Zhong- fang bai yong tupu") (edited in 1605) the texts are provided with illustrations, made by the author - the founder of Songjiang school of landscape painting, and carved by a skilled engraver.

The most valuable of our illustrated editions are the two manuals for painters, illustrated by the engravings, which represent one of the masterpieces of multicolor xylography. The collection of letter paper samples from the workshop of Ten Bamboos ("Shi zhu zhai huapu") was published in Nanjing in 1627. The illustrations were engraved by the master Hu Zhenyan (1584-1662) and printed on thin "kaihuazhi" quality paper with the employment of more than ten wooden cliches to render various shades. The book is stitched in the form of "butterfly".

"The Word of Painting from the Mustard Grain Garden" ("Jieziyuan huazhuan") is also represented by its first edition. The first book of "The Word..." was published in 1680, the second and the third in 1701, the forth, the last one, in 1718. The book was edited with the participation of the best artists, engravers and printers, united by the famous Chinese writer Li Yu (1611-1680), to whom the printing house "The Mustard Grain Garden" belonged. Some of the engravings reproduced in the manual are the copies of the works by famous Chinese artists of the past centuries, the others are original works made specially for this edition. Part of the engravings is made in colour. In later editions not only the text of the book, but also the engravings were altered. Some of them were withdrawn and substituted by others; the original sizes of the reproductions were changed too.

However, book engraving is mainly represented in our collection by illustrated editions of the so-called "common literature". Among them we single out the editions with engravings, reflecting a certain style, characteristic of the school in question, usually connected with a certain place or editions, containing illustrations of a certain type and form, characteristic of the Chinese engraving development's certain period, in which the names of the artists, engravers and printers are given, the name of the printing house and the date of engraving are pointed out. The editions of private printing houses, "prohibited" editions and the ones missing in printed catalogues, which have remained intact in a very small amount until now, are of particularly great value. Incidentally, we mention only well preserved illustrations; here are some examples.

There are paginated illustrations like "the entrance of the characters" ("xiu xiang" - "embroidered images") in the edition of the novel "Traces of the Immortal in Green Fields" ("Lui ye xian zong quan zhuan") by Li Baichuan (1719-1771). They were engraved in the "Ying xue shan fang" printing house in 1840. Similar editions of the novel, described by Sun Kaidi and Liu Cunyan were engraved in another printing house. The novel appears on the list of the so-called "prohibited books".

In the edition of the drama by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) "The Return of the Spirit" ("Huan gui ji") the text is provided with paginated plot illustrations, engraved in the "Bing si guan" private printing house in 1785.

The illustrated edition of didactic short stories "About Retribution for Good and Evil" (edited in 1846) contains wonderful illustrations, very likely engraved in one of the government printing houses, which often published didactic stories in the spirit of Confucian morality. Besides, it is one of the rare editions, revealing the names of engravers Xu Zhaoshun and He Siyong.

The whole inside of "The Blue-green Jasper Bracelet" (edition of "tanci" genre tales) (1843) is occupied by illustrations. They are plot compositions against the elaborately drawn landscape or interior. The boards for the edition were carved in the "Yin yu ge" printing house. The edition is missing in Hu Shiying's catalogue.

2. Collection of manuscripts  

General Characteristics  

The manuscript collection of our library numbers over 800 units of manuscripts in Chinese, which date from the XV up to the middle of the XIX century. Among them are autographs ("yuan chao"), lists ("chao ben") and copies ("fu ben"). Rare autographs and lists, not published until now, are also available. The lists and copies, represented in the collection, reproduce original texts, different in quality as some of them were made in book shops and the others belonged to Chinese literati. There are unique ones among the latter. Books, albums, maps and atlases are represented in our collection, which is universal in content.

In the manuscripts one can find notes on the margins, correcting, breaking up texts into phrases written by Chinese scholars. Besides that, some manuscripts from the Skachkov's collection have word for word translation, made by him.
 

History of the Collections  

The biggest part of our collection consists of the manuscripts, which K. Skachkov acquired during his stay in Peking (1848-1859) and Xinjiang (1859-1863). The latter are singled out into a special so-called Xinjiang collection. Skachkov was presented some manuscripts, others were bought by him during mass sales of private libraries belonging to Chinese scholars-bibliophiles in the time of the Taiping insurrection. Personal seals of the Chinese literati Xu Song (1781-1848), Yao Wentian (1758-1827), Yao Yuanzhu and others testify to this fact. Part of the manuscripts are in fact copies of the manuscripts and block-books, made by Chinese copyists by the Skachkov's order.

The Skachkov's collection of manuscripts is fixed in the printed catalogue, compiled by the Soviet sinologist A.Melnalksnis ("The Description of the Chinese Manuscript Books and Maps from the K.A. Skachkov's Collection". Moscow, 1974). The catalogue provides information about the authenticity of the manuscripts and availability of the publications. Dating the manuscripts, beside using paleographic data the author resorts to deciphering and attributing of the seals.
 

Encyclopaedias  

There are only three fragments of partly preserved encyclopaedia "Yongle dadian", extracted from the earlier, now lost Yuan ensyclopaedia "Jingshi dadian". The manuscript fragments bear information about hydrolic works, cattle-breeding, transport and state management in Yuan China. The texts are represented by lists, 'made by the famous scholars Weng Fanggang (1733-1818) and Xu Song. One of these fragments has remained only in the Skachkov's collection.
 

History and Historical Geography  

The most valuable manuscripts in the collection's historical part are "The True Records of Ming" in 10 books ("Ming shi lu").

It is known that the so-called "true records" ("shi lu") which were regularly made in the time of each ruling dynasty were not meant to be published. They were kept in the Emperor's archive and access to them was strictly limited to very few officials. "Shi lu" served as a material for the subsequent composition of the dynastic history.

The library's collection has got a copy of the manuscript which was probably made in the time of Ming. "Ming shi lu" was first published in Hong Kong in 1964-1966.

There are rare historical and geographical descriptions "difangzhi" in the collection of Skachkov as well. Six of them are not fixed in the catalogue by Zhu Shijia.

Besides, there are 77 maps and atlases in the collection. Among them are administrative maps and atlases of different regions of China, including maps of communications and seashores, frontier and hydrographic ones. Most of them have not been found in printed form.
 

Natural Sciences  

Herein the compiler of the catalogue, A. Melnalksnis, included manuscript books on astrology, cosmogony, medicine, alchemy, mathematics and calendar science. There are quite valuable manuscripts on medicine and alchemy among them.

The manuscript list "Yi jin jing" ("About the Changes in Sinews"), a treatise on inner alchemy, is of considerable interest for specialists in traditional Chinese medicine. Formely, Bodhidharma, the founder of Chan-Buddhism, was considered to be the author of the treatise. In our time Chinese scientists are proving that the Chinese monk Zi ning dao ren should be considered its author. There exist several copies of this work which differ greatly from one another. Our copy dates from the first half of the XIX century and has got prefaces, written in the years of 628, 1142 and 1260.
 

Belles-Lettres

As far as this section is concerned, the manuscript of Cao Qujing's novel "Believe It or not" ("Gu wang yan") (XVII1 century, 24 books) is worth mentioning. According to Chinese specialists, the manuscript is missing in Chinese collections and has not been published hitherto.

Book Miniature

A number of albums and maps in the collection are of indisputable artistic value. The unique "Album of Drawings, Depicting Growing Rice", which was presented to Skachkov by the brother of the Chinese Emperor Mu-zong, attracts art critics' special attention. The scenes of growing and treating rice are depicted on dark-blue sheets of paper, pasted on light-yellow cloth, with such vividness, that it produces an effect of a movement, interrupted for a moment. The drawings are made in gold of different dilution, which produces the colour image from golden to dark brown shades with the use of thinly diluted gold, put on the blue paper. According to the compiler of the catalogue, the album dates back to the time of the Ming dynasty as the characters have no plaits.
 

3. Conclusion  

Our holdings are the most valuable part of the worldwide collection of preserved original Chinese block-books, printed book engravings and manuscripts. Among them there are originals to be republished and some that have more than once been published or reproduced in facsimile form in PRC or in Taiwan, but still are valuable as standards and guarantees of the written tradition's purity, as well as an evidence of the reproduced texts' authenticity.

And finally, they all provide us with ample material for studying the history of book printing in China in the context of Chinese culture, engineering, technics, theory of information and aesthetics.