Product Code Database
Yu Xiangdou (; ) was a Chinese writer, editor, and publisher active during the late Ming dynasty. He took over the leadership of his family's printing conglomerate in Jianyang, Fujian after repeatedly failing the imperial examination, and was known for including portraits of himself in his publications.
Yu edited and published at least seventy titles, including the Four Books and Five Classics, two collections of fictional Taoist writing, three collections of gong'an (court-case) stories, and two or three editions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. By his own account, Yu also published "a treatise on poetry, at least two household encyclopedias, and several works on divination."
Yu is credited with authoring two shenmo novels—the Huaguang Tianwang Nanyou zhizhuan (華光天王南遊志傳) and the Quanxiang Beiyou ji Xuandi chushen zhuan (全像北游記玄帝出身傳). These two novels, alongside the Baxian chuchu dongyou ji (八仙出處東遊記) by and the Xiyouji zhuan (西遊記傳) by , make up the later Qing dynasty collection titled Four Journeys.
Yu occasionally passed off his own writing as part of the older novels that he republished. For instance, his additions to his 1594 edition of Water Margin were derided as "the hasty, slipshod writing of a relatively illiterate bookseller" by one reviewer. On the other hand, Yu claimed that his republications were superior to those of other printing houses because of their unique illustrations. In the preface of the same 1594 edition of Water Margin, Yu writes,
In addition, Yu enjoyed including illustrations of himself in his publications. While many authors at the time were known to include their portraits in their books, it was "extremely rare" for commercial publishers to follow suit. One of the earliest surviving portraits of Yu—depicting him in front of one of his printing houses, Santai guan (三台館) or Triple-Terraced House—can be found on the cover page of his 1598 anthology of vernacular love stories, titled Xinke Xinke yunchuang huishuang Wanjin qinglin (新刻芸窓彙爽萬錦情林).
|
|
