Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/133

Rh emperor that he had Chi restored to the rank of a compiler.

In 1773 Chi Yün and were appointed chief editors of the great Imperial Manuscript Library. A third chief editor,, served from 1780 to 1782. By an imperial edict of March 13, 1773, the enterprise was given the name 四庫全書 Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu or "Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature," (see under ). For twelve years, or until the work was completed, Chi served in the capacity of a chief editor, and his name has been identified with it ever since. This enormous collection of rare books was drawn from four sources: the imperial collection already in the palace library (see under ); rare and valuable books copied from the Ming encyclopaedia, 永樂大典 Yung-lo ta-tien (see under ); books submitted by provincial authorities and private collectors in compliance with an edict of February 7, 1772; and histories, documents and other books compiled by imperial order for inclusion in the Library. The carrying out of this ambitious project involved the following steps: (1) a critical review of every work available to the editors; (2) selection of the books worthy to be included in the library, of which a few were marked for independent printing (see comments on the Wu-ying-tien chü-chên-pan ts'ung-shu in the sketch of ); (3) transcription in standard size volumes (and faultless calligraphy) of the works selected; (4) collation and binding of the completed manuscripts. The first two steps were put into effect by Chi Yün and Lu Hsi-hsiung, the last two by Lu-fei Ch'ih. Chi and Lu had as assistants a number of eminent scholars among whom may be mentioned, , , , and Jên Ta-ch'un 任大椿 , and to them must be given some of the credit for the success of the undertaking. The books they commented on and reviewed number approximately 10,230 titles, of which the texts, about 3,450, were copied into the Library. The reviews were brought together in the great Imperial Catalogue, entitled Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu tsung-mu t'i-yao (總目提要), 200 chüan, which was presented to the throne in the second moon of 1781, but was revised in the ensuing two years. The material there described is divided into four grand classes and forty-four subdivisions and the Catalogue is still recognized as the most complete and authentic reference work in the field of Chinese bibliography. Recently several convenient indexes to it have been prepared. But comprehensive as it is, it cannot be regarded as a complete survey of literature in the Ch'ien-lung period, and later efforts to supplement it (see under ) were not entirely successful. Naturally, it gives more extensive notice to works copied into the Library (存書) than to works that were not copied but merely reviewed, (存目). In 1782 a simple list of the 3,450 some works copied into the Library was presented to the throne, under the title Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu chien-ming mu-lu (簡明目錄) in 20 chüan. A facsimile reproduction of this list, made from the Wên Yüan Ko 文淵閣 copy, together with photographs of the Wên Yüan Ko, was made about 1920 and published in 1935. Other editions, with reviews in condensed form (see under ) or designed to give more bibliographical information (see under ), appeared after 1784. Minor comments and collation notes on the works copied into the Library were brought together under the title Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu k'ao-chêng  (考證), 100 chüan, and printed in 1786.

In the beginning four essentially identical sets of the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu were made on the best white paper known as k'ai-hua chih 開化紙, each set comprising a total of some 36,000 volumes. The first set, completed early in 1782, was housed in a building known as the Wên Yüan Ko 文淵閣, erected on the palace grounds, during the years 1774-76. The building was presumably modeled after the very old T'ien I Ko Library of the Fan family of Ningpo, Chekiang (see under ), but in reality its massive proportions have more in common with the adjoining palace structures than with the simple building at Ningpo. The set that was housed in the Wên Yüan Ko is now in the Palace Museum (故宮博物院) and is the one from which 231 rare works were reproduced photographically in 1935 under the collective title Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu chên-pên (珍本). The second set, also completed in 1782, was housed in the Wên Su Ko 文溯閣 at Mukden, and is said to be still there. The third set, originally deposited in the Wên Yüan Ko 文源閣 on the grounds of the Old Summer Palace (Yüan-ming Yüan), was destroyed in 1860 when those palaces were pillaged and burned. The fourth set (reported as complete in an edict dated January 6, 1785) was originally placed in the Wên Ching Ko 文津閣 at Jehol, but is now in the National Library of Peiping. 121