Book/Printed Material Jiu huang ben cao : er juan 救荒本草 : 二卷
About this Item
Title
- Jiu huang ben cao : er juan
Other Title
- 救荒本草 : 二卷
Summary
- Complex ordering of chapters and parts; botanist Dr. Walter T. Swingle (1871-1952) believed that this print of the 1406 edition was the same as the 1555 edition referred to by sinologist Emil Bretschneider (1833-1901).
- Jiu huang ben cao (Materia medica for the relief of famines) was compiled by Zhu Su (1361-1425), whose given name was Zhou Wang or Zhou Ding Wang, the fifth son of Ming Taizu, the first Ming emperor (reigned 1368-98). The work is an album with illustrations of local plants and an introduction to the classifications of Chinese plants that were of economic significance. This is also the earliest work on agriculture and botany in China to focus on the relief of famines. While still young, Zhu Su became keenly interested in medicine and held the view that medicine could save lives, cure diseases, and prolong life. The work was first printed in Kaifeng in the fourth year (1406) of the Yongle reign. Officially it has two juan, with two parts in each juan, so actually it is in four juan. The work records 414 plants, with 138 plants from earlier medical works, and an additional 276 new plants. They are grouped in the categories of grass (245 plants), trees (80), grains (20), fruits (23), and vegetables (46). The Chinese characters of the names are arranged by stroke order. The work has refined woodblock illustrations of these various plants, with descriptions of their shapes, growing environments, and pharmaceutical compounding processes. The work thus served as a reference about resources. Where it differs from other works of materia medica is that it focuses only on plants. It records a number of poisonous plants that become edible after elimination of their poison - useful knowledge during famines. About ten medical works on the relief of famines later were produced, and most of them borrowed from the contents of this work. Walter Tennyson Swingle (1871-1952), the American agricultural botanist who brought the book back from China for the Library of Congress, believed it was from the original edition. However, the lack of prefaces, postscripts, or printer's labels means that its origin has not been confirmed. In his evaluation of this work, Wang Zhongmin, in Meiguo guo hui tu shu guan cang Zhongguo shan ben shu lu (A descriptive catalog of rare Chinese books in the Library of Congress), took the view that it was a reprint by Lu Jian done during the Jiajing period (1522-66), possibly in the 34th year (1555) of the Jiajing reign. Lu Jian, style name Daohan, a native of Kaifeng, was a magistrate of Nanchang and Weixian, a judicial reviewer in Dali, a magistrate of Yuncheng, and eventually was promoted as prefect in Dujun Fu, Diannan. He was also an avid book collector. There were few Ming editions of this work. World Digital Library.
Names
- Zhu, Su, -1425
- Lu, Jian, active 16th century, ke
- Chinese Rare Book Collection (Library of Congress)
Created / Published
- [China] : Lu Jian, Ming Jiajing 34 nian [1555]
Headings
- - Plants (China)
Notes
- - In case.
- - Also available in digital form.
- - 十二至十七行二十四五字. Twelve to seventeen lines, with twenty-four or twenty-five characters per line.
- - 明周定王朱橚撰。按是書凡二卷，每卷又分前後，以元亨利貞編次，實為四卷。施永高先生作報告，謂此本為永樂四年原刻本;又謂Bretschneider 所見嘉靖三十四年刻本，分卷與此相同(Report of the Librarian of Congress p.p.192-201,1935,by Dr. W.T.Swingle) 因原書無序跋，無牌記，施氏亦不敢自信其說。茲斷定為陸東刻本。又北平圖書館所藏萬曆間印本，有李汶序，蓋陸李兩本，皆就同一版片刷印，此本或當為嘉靖間原印本，惟因無序跋，亦不敢質言之，惟恐經坊估毀拆，有欺售意也。詞林人物孜卷十云:「陸柬字道函，大梁人也。故為南昌魏縣兩令，轉大理評事。擢守寶慶，左遷運城同知，再陞滇南都勻府以歸。藏書之富，幾於江南好事家等。」提要誤「柬」為「東」.
- - 明嘉靖三十四年陸柬刻本. Ming Dynasty woodblock print, made by Lu Jian in 1555.
Medium
- 8 v. : ill.
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2012402246
Online Format
- image