MS 376
天下山海圖.
Tianxia shanhai tu [manuscript]
Tianxia shanhai tu [manuscript]
邊疆夷國長城.
Other title: Bianjiang yiguo changcheng
Other title: Bianjiang yiguo changcheng
Distinctive title: Topham atlas
Distinctive title: Chinese atlas
China, 1630-1644.
1 v. : maps ; 460 x 560 mm.
Date of production: 1630 x 1644 inferred from mention of events in 1630, but no references to the Qing dynasty. The work must have reached its final form at the very end of the Ming dynasty.
Material: laid plant-fibre paper; 11 vertical chain-lines per folio. No watermarks.
Format: bifolia lined on 19th-century western paper as individual leaves to form a codex. Sheets would have originally been folded outwards at the centre so that the sectional maps would appear continuous.
Dimensions of actual Chinese leaves: 403 x 250-2 (folded) or 502 (unfolded) mm.
Number of leaves: iv + 67 + iv.
Accompanying material: ms. extract from a letter from Mr Archibald Rose (1879-1961) to Provost M.R. James, originally dated 12 May 1921, about the atlas. Two individual leaves, undated, one pink and one plain, written in Chinese characters.
Catalogue record based on a report on the manuscript by Howard G.H. Nelson, Keeper of Oriental manuscripts and printed books at the British Library, c. 1965, with additional notes by Barbara Grigor-Taylor and Graham Hutt, curator of the China Section, British Library, November 2011. This is kept in the item file for MS 376.
Summary: A late Ming dynasty manuscript atlas of military installations in China, prepared as a scheme of defence against pirates and bandits, with notes on various disturbances and their suppression. The title on f.1 is accompanied by a seal which reads "Bianjiang yiguo changcheng", meaning "border regions, barbarian countries and the Great Wall".
Origin: China. The seal on f.1 is not an official seal, so it gives no clue to the origin of the book.
Provenance: donated to the library as part of Richard Topham collection in 1736.
Late 17th- or early 18th-century English red morocco; gold tooled decorative borders formed of sunflower, bird, star and arabesque tools; gold stamped armorial device of Eton College within laurel wreath on centre of each board; gold tooled floral roll on board edges; gold tooled decorative roll on square; gold tooled decoration on spine; seven raised bands; gilt edges; red, blue, green and orange marbled endpapers.
Former ECL shelfmark: Sa2.4.03.
China Maps Early works to 1800.
China Military aspects Early works to 1800.
Topham, Richard, 1671 - 1730 former owner.
China.
chi
B49828