Ch’ing Ming Shang Ho (Spring Festival on the River)

Priest, Alan (text). Ch’ing Ming Shang Ho (Spring Festival on the River). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1948. Ex-Library First edition. Elephant Folio. 12pp., 30 plates. Original red half cloth over gray boards with gray lettering and ivory clasp. Title page in red and black. A scroll painting (Ex Coll. A. W. Bahr) of the Ming Dynasty after a Song Dynasty subject reproduced in its entirety and in its original size of twenty-three collotype plates and twelve enlarged details with an introduction by Alan Priest, curator of Far Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The Ching Ming or Spring Festival (Memorial Day) has its origin in the ancient rites of kindling a new fire each year and also with the tradition of planting trees. From these early origins it has become transformed into a kind of Chinese Memorial Day when the people make journeys to family gravesites with prayers and offerings. It is fixed for one hundred and six days after the winter solstice and usually comes early in the third moon (our late March or early April).

Portfolio with minor bumps at corners. Ex-Libris and small dealer sticker on inside front cover. Paper at inside gutter of portfolio cracked. Plates with small bump at upper right corner throughout. Binding and interior in overall very good condition. vg. Hardcover. (41257) $65