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Shelfmark

MS 376

Title

天下山海圖.

Tianxia shanhai tu [manuscript]

Varying form of title

邊疆夷國長城.

Other title: Bianjiang yiguo changcheng

Varying form of title

Distinctive title: Topham atlas

Varying form of title

Distinctive title: Chinese atlas

Publication, distribution, etc.

China, 1630-1644.

Physical description

1 v. : maps ; 460 x 560 mm.

Note

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.

Note

Material: laid plant-fibre paper; 11 vertical chain-lines per folio. No watermarks.

Note

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.

Note

Dimensions of actual Chinese leaves: 403 x 250-2 (folded) or 502 (unfolded) mm.

Note

Number of leaves: iv + 67 + iv.

Note

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.

Note

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, etc.

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".

Provenance

Origin: China. The seal on f.1 is not an official seal, so it gives no clue to the origin of the book.

Provenance

Provenance: donated to the library as part of Richard Topham collection in 1736.

Binding

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.

Copy-specific note

Former ECL shelfmark: Sa2.4.03.

Subject

China Maps Early works to 1800.

Subject

China Military aspects Early works to 1800.

Added entry--name

Added entry--name

Added entry--name

Added entry--name

Added entry--place

China.

Language code

chi

Identifier

B49828
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