ZZDCH2 DIANSHIZHAI CONGHUA. (Collected Images from Dianshizhai). Shanghai, 1888. Between 60 & 90 pp. per fascicle. B/w lithographic illustrations throughout. 8 vols. 15x10 cm. Stitched, original cloth case. GBP 2,500.00 A small work in size but copiously-illustrated throughout with black-and-white lithographic illustrations, this is an important reference for the more traditionally-focused output of the Shanghai Dianshizhai lithographic publishing house. Fascicles 1 and 2 show landscape painting, fascicles 3-5 depict figure painting (historical figures, beautiful women etc.), fascicles 6-8 illustrate birds, animals and plants, fascicle 9 shows butterflies and fascicle 10 depicts a selection of landscape scenes and paintings of people. The 10 parts are bound as 8 fascicles. The work seems intended to serve as a painting manual (huapu) as there is a large and very varied assortment of images by Chinese painters from olden times through to (then) contemporary artists - reproductions of work by about 30 contemporary artists are shown. Also included are entire reprints of Chinese and Japanese illustrated works, plus some miscellaneous Japanese illustrated material. The introduction states that a large amount of the material had already been published separately by Dianshizhai, thus this work's importance as a reference to the rarely-seen output of this printing studio. The work exhibits some minor foxing but is in remarkably good condition with the original stitching and the original cloth case. Remarkably rare to find in its complete form which may indicate that it was originally issued in parts. Text in Chinese. Subjects: Rare Books Illustrated Books Available, as of: 03/07/2008 Was item 164 in printed List 140. Record produced by Hanshan Tang Books, www.hanshan.com.