Chuang yang jing yan quan shu 瘡瘍經驗全書 [Complete Book of the Management & Examination of Sores and Ulcers] (title at the beginning of the text); Dou tai shi quan shu 竇太師全書 [Complete Book of Grand Preceptor Dou] (title on cover page)

Numerous woodcut illus. 13 juan in 16 vols. 8vo, bamboo paper (some loss of text in Preface), new wrappers, new stitching. [China]: Hao ran lou 浩然樓, [1717] (date of Preface).




Second edition of an extensive work on sores and ulcers. The first edition was reportedly privately published in 1569, but we find no copy in WorldCat.


The book is wide-ranging in its coverage and contains many illustrations. In juan 1, we are shown symptoms of the mouth, tongue, teeth, and throat. Throughout, the descriptions of symptoms are followed by lists of prescriptions. In juan 4, we find an illustration that shows surgical instruments. (truncated) We are shown the back of a man with a large spotted sore on his back. He is sticking a large needle, marked as a “qi needle,” into the sore. Another needle protrudes from the sore on the opposite side. The legend specifies that it is a “needle for extracting pus.”


Various sores affecting the genitalia are covered and illustrated in juan 5. Syphilis is covered in juan 6, where one alternative name given for the disease is “Guangdong sores.” A number of recipes are provided to alleviate its various symptoms. Juan 7 contains illustrations of 25 kinds of moles. The following juan is devoted to pox in children. Children with pox are shown in several illustrations, along with illustrations of the pock marks and various charts. In addition to recipes, advice regarding how to prevent pox is given here as well, such as keeping rooms clean and well aired, lending a public health aspect to the work. We find illustrations of the internal organs in juan 10. There are also various theoretical discussions.


The history of our book is complicated. At the end of the table of contents is a note from the publisher: “This book is entirely based on the original edition from Wugui Tang 五桂堂. When re-cutting the blocks, we also collated and verified every character using our precious and rare copy that was cut in the Song so that there are no mistakes. Knowledgeable readers are sure to appreciate this. Be careful with it. Signed: Haoran Lou.”


This piece of promotional material is not entirely truthful. Research has shown that the Wugui Tang edition, apparently published in 1569 (Longqing 3) is the first printed edition of the work. The book is not mentioned in any Song- and Yuan-era bibliographies; it appears for the first time in Yicang mulu 醫藏目錄 [Catalogue of Books Kept by the Physicians] from the Chongzhen period (1628-43), and no purportedly Song copy has come down to us.


The authorship, attributed to Grand Preceptor Dou, to wit Song-dynasty figure Dou Mo 竇默 (original name Hanqing 漢卿, changed at the age of 41 sui), is equally spurious. When the book was published, its editor and co-author, Dou Menglin 竇夢麟, ascribed it to Dou Mo, whom he presented as his ancestor. Genealogical research has shown, however, that Dou Menglin and Dou Mo were not of the same clan, despite the identical surname, and there is no credible way that Dou Mo’s writings would have been transmitted to Dou Menglin. Yet there was more than a grain of truth to Menglin’s claim. His family had practiced medicine for five generations, and there is no reason to doubt Menglin’s assertion that he had corrected and expanded “precious volumes transmitted in [his] family.”


Menglin’s contributions ranged from proofreading (as with the section on “certain theories on the various symptoms of the throat and tongue” in juan 1) to expanding (“the method of using the hand while operating the knife [for surgery]” in juan 9). Some pieces were proofread by Menglin’s friends, who pooled money to “crowdfund” the book’s publication (Wang & Ren).


The Princeton University copy of the same edition has two Prefaces. Our copy has only one, signed by Chen Tinggui 陳廷桂 in 1717 (Kangxi dingyou). The cover pages are not identical either. Our copy does not carry the date inscribed on the Princeton copy (Kangxi dingyou).


Very good set, with some dampstaining, damage expertly repaired with backing paper, torn pages, and loss of approximately half the text of two pages (opposing leaves) of the Preface. Preserved in two new hantao.


❧ Wang Yitong 王一童 & Ren Yulan 任玉蘭, “Chuangyang jingyan quanshu zuozhe ji chengshu kao” 《瘡瘍經驗全書》作者及成書考, Zhongguo Zhongyi jichu yixue zazhi 24.8 (2018): pp. 1034-35 & 1131. (Inventory #: 10382)