二刻張閣老經筵四書直觧孟子 [= Reprint of a colloquial commentary of Zhang Juzheng on the four books: Mencius]

n.p.: [Wu Weiye ?], 1650. Books 14-27 of 27 books, bound in 5 volumes; contemporary, if not original, paper covers, title in manuscript on each cover, stab-bound; with 21 folios lacking in the text and replaced with blank folios, 15 folios partially perished and remargined, and 2 folios almost entirely perished, with only a small portion remaining; some worming to vol. 5. This is possibly the second printing of an edition published by Wu Weiye around the mid to late 1600s. Zhang Juzheng was the Grand Secretary of the Ming dynasty between 1572 and 1582 and served as a de facto secretary of state during that time, enacting sweeping political reforms and (truncated) exerting strong influence on the Wanli Emperor. His writings on the four books served the primary source of the first Jesuit translation of the four books into Latin. (Inventory #: 50312)