FENG, Chengjun.

£175 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Xiyu diming ("An Index to the Place Names of the Western Region"). First trade edition, first Shanghai printing, from the library of the archaeologist Cheng Te-Kun (1908-2001), with his decorative bookplate. The author (1887-1946) and Cheng were among the leading archaeologists of their generations, Cheng holding appointments at the University of Cambridge and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.Feng's Index catalogues, transliterates, and explains important places on the Silk Road route through Central Asia. His expansive scholarly output included a study of Dunhuang, the strategically important ancient trading centre, and writings on Chinese historical geography. Feng and Cheng also shared an interest in fairy tales, their works appearing side-by-side in Feng Changyi's recent Zhongguo shenhua xue bainian wenlun xuan (2013).The Index was first published in 1930 in the internal magazine of the North-West Scientific Survey (Xibei kexue kaocha tuan), but most copies were lost during the Second World War.

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