WU, Jingzi.

£400 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Scholars. First edition in English, complete with the original slipcase, of the Rulin waishi, China's first satirical novel. Published posthumously around 1770, it took aim at literati life and elite culture and was heavily informed by the experiences of its author, Wu Jingzi (1701-1754), a poverty-stricken minor official. It is regularly compared in importance to Dream of the Red Chamber.

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