Rare Illustrated Classic of History, Qing Dynasty, 1905

A rare copy of the Imperially commissioned illustrated edition of the 'Classic of History', Qinding Shujing Tushuo, Guangxu, dated 1905, comprising two volumes, each enclosing eight soft-bound fascicles, each with approximately 40 lithographic annotated illustrations, dated to the 31st year of Guangxu, corresponding to 1905, each bound in yellow paper and encased in cloth-bound fastening slip cases, each volume 32.2 cm x 22.8 cm x 8.8 cm (2). Provenance: NSW private collection, acquired in Beijing in 1963 or 1964, one of the fascicles of volume 1 with a seal of Zhongguo Shudian, the present volumes were commissioned by the Qing Imperial court in 1905 under the Guangxu Emperor, and published at the Wuyingdian Imperial press within the Forbidden city. Whilst extant copies of these volumes are rare, copies are held in the New York Public library, the Bibliothe and the bodleian library, Oxford. The yellow paper title slips on each fascicle indicate their Imperial attribution. An image taken from within the archives of the Forbidden city shows how yellow-bound volumes, such as the present example, would have been (and indeed still are to this day) stored, illustrated by Wan Yi, Wang Shuqing and Lu Yanzhen, Classics of Forbidden city. Life in the Forbidden city of Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2007, fig.333