Shiki 史記

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 16049.e.1
  • Dates of Creation
      [1605-1624]
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      6 volumes Condition: Good. A clean copy, with minor worm damage to cover and first 12 folios of maki 1 and elsewhere. Printed folios of section ki 紀, maki 4, ff. 31-39, missing and supplied in manuscript. Impression: For the most part sharp and clear, with little evidence of type wear. Seals of ownership: Square red seal, Baiyaku senri 賣藥仙吏, on first page of each former satsu. Another square red seal, Hara 原 , impressed over a smaller red seal, Hara Sueo 原季雄, at lower right on same page of each former satsu. Manuscript notes: Note in blue ink on mikaeshi of satsu 1: 享保辛亥 [i.e. 1731] 五月念八日會于洒落亭. Textual notes in upper and lower margins scattered throughout text, and on a few inserted blank leaves. Manuscript okurigana (katakana) and kaeriten in black ink, and shubiki and kutōten in red, throughout the work. The addition of these reading marks is recorded by manuscript shikigo in left-hand margin of last folio verso of almost every satsu. A typical shikigo, on fol. 55b of maki 1, reads: 元禄五年壬申秋九月朔日乞借於 先生之点本以点此巻畢也矣. All of these shikigo are dated Genroku 5 (1692) or Genroku 6 (1693).

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Sima Qian 司馬遷, Chinese historian, c. 145-80 BC. Commentary by PEI Yin 裴駰. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [Keichō / Genna period, c. 1605-24] . No colophon. Description: 130 kan, formerly in 50 satsu, now rebound in 6 vols. western style. Maki 1 is preceded by an introductory volume containing: (1) 5 prefaces, 史記索隠序, 史記索隠後序, 史記正義序, 補史記序, 史記集解序, ff. 15; (2) 史記正義論例諡法鮮, ff. 22; (3) 史記目録, ff. 21. 28.6 x 20.7 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 22.3 x 17.8 cm. Double-line borders all round. 'Flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text without printed kunten or reading marks. 8 lines to page (main text 本文-large characters), 16 lines (commentary-small characters), 17 characters to line. Original dull yellow front covers of satsu 1, 11, 20, 28, 36 and 44 only, faintly embossed with a lozenge design. No title slips, but oblong strips of kōzo paper have been pasted on outer cover of each of these satsu, bearing manuscript list of contents in a hand of c. Kan'ei period. Title from naidai on first page of each maki. Hashiragaki: Shiki ki 史記紀 (hyō 表, sho 書, ka 家, den 傳) + maki no. + folio no. In a modern western style half-leather binding. Edition: The second movable type edition of this work, datable to later Keichō or Genna period. This was apparently modelled on the earlier edition, datable to Keichō 11 (1606) or earlier, which is commonly referred to as a Den Saga-bon 傳嵯峨本, but although the hanshiki is similar, the type used for the present edition is of smaller size. Contents: Comprehensive history of ancient China, Shiji 史記, covering a period of 2= millennia from the reign of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu (Han period, 140-87 BC). The work is grouped in 5 sections: Basic annals (本記), tables (表), treatises (書), hereditary households (世家) and biographical memoirs (列伝). It incorporates additional material and exegesis by Sima Zhen 司馬貞 (索隠) and Zhang Shoujie 張守節 (正義), both of the Tang period.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Ernest M. Satow, 13 June 1895.

Other Finding Aids

Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993).A. Chinese works 漢籍 4. History and biography 歴史•伝記

Bibliography

Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 359, 380, 400, 421-2, 426-7, 429, 824, pl. 197; Takagi bunko kokatsuji-ban mokuroku 高木文庫古活字版目録, p. 53; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, p. 68; Shina gakugei daijii 支那学芸大辞彙, p. 409.