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120 LEONOF, G. A., & V. N. Rogoff. Menggu renmin gongheguo zou xiang wenhua jianshe zhi dao (“The Mongolian People’s Republic on the Road to Cultural Development”). Shanghai: Epoch Publishing Co., 1948 POLITICAL PROPAGANDA FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE FAMED ASIA CORRESPONDENT ALBERT RAVENHOLT First edition, sole printing, of this rare piece of East Asian propaganda; one of 1,000 copies printed. Though without mark of ownership, this copy is from the library of Albert Ravenholt, a prominent Western reporter in wartime China and one of the founders of the Foreign Correspondents Club, an elite members- only group of journalists and diplomats today based in Hong Kong. Founded in 1941, Epoch Publishing Company was a propaganda front for the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai. This bilingual account of developments in the Mongolian People’s Republic since the 1921 revolution was jointly authored by a former TASS correspondent in China (Rogoff) and a scholar of Buddhism and Lamaism (Leonof). Landscape quarto. Original coloured decorative card wrappers, Chinese title printed to spine, front cover with triband decoration, title in Mongolian and Chinese, and red flag with Soyombo symbol, blue endpapers. Halftone illustrations throughout. Short split to foot of spine, wrappers lightly creased, notably bright, contents clean and free from marks. A near-fine copy of this fragile publication. £1,250 [149374]
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121 LI, Bai; WANG, Qi (ed.) Li Taibai wenji (“The Collected Works of Li Bai”). China: Bao hu lou, [c.1850] His poetry “soars to sublime heights in its descriptions of natural scenes and powerful emotions” A rare edition, printed in the late Qing dynasty from 18th-century woodblocks, of the annotated poems of Li Bai, one of China’s greatest lyricists, this a well- preserved copy. Since they were first composed, Li’s works have entertained, enthralled, and inspired with their emotional and literary depth. WorldCat records copies in five locations, only two outside China. Li Bai (702–762, also known as Li Po) was born into a wealthy family in the golden years of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Rejecting the traditional literati career path – spending years studying for the imperial examination – he spent his time travelling, before eventually gaining an official position through the recommendation of an acquaintance. Later dismissed for an unknown indiscretion, he became a Daoist and wandering recluse, devoting his time to more travelling, meeting people, drinking copiously – his love of wine was legendary – and writing poetry. Li’s poems, now estimated at almost one thousand compositions, were heavily influenced by his free and
eremitic lifestyle. They often took the form of dreams or spirit-journeys exploring themes such as reclusion, friendship, the beauty of nature, and the effects of drunkenness. “The infectious rhythm of much of his poetry makes his lines memorable, and the vividness of pictures he paints in words brings to life the scenes and places he describes” (Brown, p. 542). Renowned in his lifetime, by the time he died Li was known as the “Banished Immortal”, as if sent down from heaven to the human world as a punishment for his affable misbehaviour. In the Song dynasty, his poems were already established at the apex of the Chinese poetical canon, never to be supplanted. From the 19th century onward, Li also gained Western admirers and translators: Ezra Pound’s rendition of “The River Merchants Wife: A Letter” “has been included in many textbooks and anthologies as a masterpiece of modern poetry” (Ha, p. i). 36 volumes in 16, octavo (253 × 157 mm). Rebound to style in brown paper wrappers with white xianzhuang-style stitching, folding leaves. Housed in mid-20th-century folding case with title label. Each volume with some neat paper repairs and a few leaves lined with paper, text only slightly affected, contents evenly toned, couple of ink stains in margins. A very good copy of this fragile publication. ¶ Kerry Brown, Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography , 2017; Arthur Cooper, Li Po and Tu Fu , 2015; Ha Jin, The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai (Li Po) , 2019. £7,500 [153467]
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SPRING 2022
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