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Luzhutang shumu 菉竹堂書目

Jan 9, 2020 © Ulrich Theobald

Luzhutang shumu 菉竹堂書目 is a private book catalogue written during the early Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Ye Sheng 葉盛 (1420-1474), courtesy name Yuzhong 與中, style Tuo'an 脫庵, posthumous title Wenzhuanggong 文莊公. He hailed from Kunshan 昆山, Jiangsu, and crowned his career with the office of Left Vice Minister of Personnel (libu zuo shilang 吏部左侍郎).

Ye's catalogue has a length of 6 juan and follows very roughly the four traditional categories of libraries, but changed the order of subcategories. It begins with imperial edicts (Shengzhi 聖制 ), followed by commentaries on the Confucian Classics, with a separate section for Neo-Confucian texts (XingliJingji 經濟) and "books of the Masters" (Zishu 子書, Ziza 子雜). Juan 4 is dedicated to anthologies of poetry (Shiciji 詩詞集).

Fascicle 5 lists encyclopaedias (Leishu 類書), rhyme dictionaries (Yunshu 韻書), genealogies (Xingshi 姓氏), books on painting (Huapu 畫譜), on administration (Zhengshu 政書), the penal law (Xingshu 刑書), military treatises (Bingfa 兵法), books on calculation (Suanfa 算法), medicine (Yishu 醫書), and agriculture and gardening (Nongpu 農圃). The last part, titled "Last record" (Houlu 後錄), includes comprehensive books of old and contemporary matters (Guji tongzhi 古今通志), books on divination techniques (Yinyang bushi shu 陰陽卜筮書), texts of religious Daoism (Daoshu 道書), and Buddhism (Foshu 佛書).

The 31 categories roughly follow the arrangment of the bibliographical chapter Jingji kao 經籍考 in Ma Duanlin's 馬端臨 (1254-c. 1324) encyclopaedia Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考.

The text of the Luzhutang shumu has only survived as part of the catalogue Wenyuange shumu 文淵閣書目. It records texts with a physical size of 4,600 booklets in 22,700 juan, but for the largest part of entries, only book titles and sizes are given, while authors are rarely mentioned. It was therefore not included in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.

The catalogue survives in the series Yueyatang congshu 粵雅堂叢書本 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

Sources:
Chu Jiang 儲江 (2015). "Lüelun Luzhutang shumu de zhenwei 略論《菉竹堂書目》的真僞", Jiangsu jiaoyu yanjiu 江蘇教育研究, 2015 (8).
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, ed. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 1466.
Pan Yinsheng 潘寅生, Guo Jiankui 郭建魁, ed. (1993). Zhonghua shehui kexue gongjushu cidian 中華社會科學工具書辭典 (Lanzhou: Gansu renmin chubanshe), 738.
Wen Wei 文偉 (2011). "Ye Sheng yu Luzhutang shumu tanjiu 葉盛與《菉竹堂書目》探究", Keji qingbao kaifa yu jingji 科技情報開發與經濟, 2011 (11).
Zhang Lei 張雷 (1998). "Luzhutang shumu de zhenben yu weiben 《菉竹堂書目》的真本和僞本", Jiangsu Tushuguan xuebao 江蘇圖書館學報, 1998 (6).