§ 2. The Various Editions.
The earliest printed editions of the Yen T'ieh Lun, of which there
is record, are the two noted in the bibliography of editions of
works issued in the Sung and Yüan dynasties, entitled Sung Yüan
pên shu-mu hsing-ko-piao.[123]
One is known as the Sung shun-hsi pên
Yen T'ieh Lun.[124]
This is in 10 chüan.[125]
It has nine columns to
each half-folio, and 18 characters to each column. It is called the
Sung Yüan old edition.[126]
The information is quoted from the catalogue
entitled Shu ching yen-lu.[127]
The other edition is the Sung
pên Yen T'ieh Lun.[128]
It is described as in 12 chüan, with 10 columns
to each half-
folio, and 18 characters to each column. A description
of the work is quoted from the catalogue entitled
Ch'ih ching shu-mu:[129]
"On the back of the last folio of each
chüan there is the
following colophon in two columns:
[130]
"Fine edition published by
the family of Chang the tax controller, a native of Chin-ch'i, in the
year when the reign title was changed to
shun-hsi [1174]".
[131]
One of the leading editors and commentators of the late Manchu
period, Wang Hsien-ch'ien,[132]
observes in his edition of the Yen T'ieh
Lun:[133]
"The best copy of the Yen T'ieh Lun is the reprint of the
chia-t'ai[134]
edition of the Sung dynasty [1201—1204]. This was made
by T'u Chên, a mayor of Hsin Kan in the 14th year of hung-chih
era in the Ming period [1501]. During the chia-ching period [of the
Ming dynasty, 1522-1566],[135]
Chang Chih-hsiang of Yün Chien[136]
issued
a new edition with explanatory notes, the text being divided into
12 chüan, the original having 10 books. This edition was reprinted
by Wang Mo (Ch'ing era)[137]
in his augmented edition of the Han
Wei Ts'ung Shu, the Collected Works of the Han and Wei Dynasties.[138]
Due to omissions and changes in words and sentences, this
particular recension has been criticized by authorities. Lu Wên-chao,
[tzŭ Shao-kung[139]
1717-1795], by means of a comparative study of
the copy in the Yung-lo encyclopaedia,[140]
the T'u edition and the
Chang recension, made some corrections in his Additional Collection
of Miscellaneous Works, Ch'ün Shu Shih Pu.[141]
In the 12th year
of
chia-ch'ing [1807]
[142]
Chang Tun-jên, [
tzŭ Ku Yü]
[143]
reprinted the
T'u edition, supplemented by his
Exegetical Notes,[144]
bringing out
many points not covered by Lu.
If we are to rely on the results of Wang Hsien-ch'ien's researches,
it may be concluded that the earliest edition preserved to Chinese
scholarship in recent times was the chia-t'ai edition of the 13th
century. That the records should point back to a printed edition
of the Sung period is to be expected, as some centuries before Gutenberg
and his press, the art of book-printing by engraved blocks
reached the height of perfection in China.
The chia-t'ai edition is unfortunately lost to the world, but T'u's
reprint of the hung-chih period of the Ming era is in current use;
and its photographic reproduction is now available in the extensive
anthology of Chinese literature known under the title of Ssŭ Pu
Ts'ung K'an,[145]
The Collected Reprints of the Four Divisions.[146]
This
edition is regarded generally as the most authentic. It is not clear
whether the manuscript copy included in the great encyclopaedia
Yung-lo Ta Tien was taken from the chia-t'ai edition or from an
independent source. As this anthology provided parts of the succeeding
Imperial Complete Collection of the Four Libraries, the Ssŭ K'u
Ch'üan Shu,[147]
another of the vast literary compilations of China and
to which access has only recently been afforded, the question remains
for investigation at some future time. The edition which Chang
Chih-hsiang freely arranged as to organisation, punctuation and textual
renderings (the text of the Han Wei Ts'ung Shu), does not mention
its sources. Its variations from the T'u reprint, however, are
now generally regarded as Chang's own work.
[148]
The Lu edition
provides a text based upon a comparative study of the T'u reprint,
the
Yung-lo Ta Tien text, and Chang Chih-hsiang's edition.
The best edition today is doubtless that of Wang Hsien-ch'ien,
published in 1891[149]
by the Ssŭ Hsien Chiang Shê.[150]
The text is
based on the T'u reprint; but for the sake of comparative study,
Wang inserts as notes in appropriate sections the textual corrections
and comments of the preceding editors Chang Chih-hsiang, Lu Wên-chao
and Chang Tun-jên. In addition he appends to his two volumes
a body of "Minor Research Notes" of unusual value. These are
formed from quotations from the Yen T'ieh Lun culled from various
works of the T'ang and Sung dynasties.[151]
In the preparation of the present translation into English, reliance
has been placed chiefly on the invaluable edition of Wang-Hsiench'ien.
The reprints in the Ku Shu Ts'ung K'an[152]
collection, and
the Han Wei Ts'ung Shu (representing the Chang Chih-hsiang
edition), and the Ssŭ Pu Ts'ung K'an reprint (T'u's edition), have
been utilized in connection with Wang Hsien-ch'ien's annotated work.
The texts made use of by Chinese editors of the Yen T'ieh Lun
since the Sung era, and their relationship, are represented in the
following chart. Necessarily the two editions of the shun-hsi era of
the Sung dynasty, known only through the catalogues, are not included.
