[Group of Cantonese opera librettos for five different operas, together with a Mu yu ("wooden fish") songbook]

Guangzhou: Yi wen tang 以文堂 and Wu gui tang 五桂堂, n.d. A group of woodblock-printed librettos representing five different operas, each comprised of multiple booklets, for a total of 21 booklets, all 4.75x6.5 inches, plus a larger-format Muyu booklet of "wooden fish" songs. Several of the librettos have chipped covers, many are stamped "Made in China" in English, typically done to products being exported to overseas Chinese communities. The two publishers, located in the same section of Guangzhou, were prolific publishers of this sort of material in the late Qing and Republican period.

The publications from Yi wen tang (以文堂) include the following: Sha zi you bao (殺子有報) in six booklets; Ye diao qiu xi (夜吊秋喜) in three booklets, and Zhao jun you ya ( 昭君投涯) in five booklets; in many cases the individual booklets in a set have different titles on the cover but the numbering is clearly from the same set and the main title is repeated at the end. Also from this publisher is a more substantial unpaginated paperback bound with thread, 5x8 inches, Guan lun mai mei ( 關倫賣妹), which contains lyrics for the rhythmic chants known as wooden fish songs (named for the wooden block which the performer would strike in time with the recitation). From the publisher Wu gui tang (五桂堂 ) we have, returning to smaller slender booklet format, Xue zhong song tan ( 雪中送炭 ), two booklets, and Shen zhen ji ( 神針記), five volumes.

Cat.No: 326062

Price: $1,500.00