Collected Annotations on the Twenty-Four Histories (Annotations on the New Tang History) (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Zhang Yuanji (Author), Wang Shaozeng, Cheng Yuanfen, Zhao Tong (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features:
Editorial Notes:
1. The original manuscript of the collation was first transcribed according to the original draft of the collation notes, and then verified.
2. During transcription, the definitive version of the collation notes was primarily used, supplemented by reference materials.
3. The page and line numbers of the collation notes were generally used for the collated text, with clear and accurate entries. If there were any incorrect entries in the original collation notes, they must be corrected one by one. Annotations marked with "" after the word "" were required, while the main text did not include the word "". If the original collation notes had annotations with "" but without "", they must be corrected for uniformity.
4. The original draft of the collation notes primarily used the Imperial Academy edition to collate the Song and Yuan old editions (the quoted sentences in the top are from the Song and Yuan old editions, and the variant readings in the bottom are from the Imperial Academy edition). Occasionally, the Song and Yuan old editions were used to collate the Imperial Academy edition (the quoted sentences in the top are from the Imperial Academy edition, and the variant readings in the bottom are from the Song and Yuan old editions). The collation of the Song and Yuan old editions with the Imperial Academy edition was the general rule, and it must be consistently followed. During transcription, the original text was first located according to the page and line numbers of the Imperial Academy edition, then compared with the collated text, and the page and line numbers of the collated text were corrected and the quoted sentences and variant readings were swapped.
5. The reference editions used in the collation notes were generally written in a smaller font. Editions were generally abbreviated. For example, the Jigu Ge edition was referred to as "Jigu", the Bejian edition as "Be", the Dade edition as "De", the Wang Wensheng edition as "Wang", and the Kong Jihan edition as "Kong". Entries in the top were the same as the collated text, and entries in the bottom were the same as the Imperial Academy edition. In the original draft, "Jigu, De same" or "Be, Wang same", the word "same" could be omitted.
6. During the transcription of the collation notes, "o" was added next to variant readings and supplementary text, "oo" for inverted text, and "<" for missing text. If any "o", "oo", or "<" were omitted in the original draft, they must be added.
7. During the transcription of the quoted sentences and variant readings, each entry must be verified against the collated text and the Imperial Academy edition. If any errors or swaps were found in the original draft's quoted sentences and variant readings, they must be corrected one by one. If discrepancies were found in the collated text or the Imperial Academy edition that were not noted in the collation notes, they must be transcribed on a separate sheet as supplementary notes to the collation notes and attached at the end.
8. The collation notes had red and black ink annotations. All annotations related to the examination of variant readings were transcribed one by one in the notes. Annotations of different levels were separated by "○". Annotations in the collation notes were either from Zhang Julu or from Mr. Wang Zhonggu and Mr. Jiang Zhongfei. Since the collation notes were compiled by Julu, the names of the annotators were no longer marked. In special cases, they were handled separately. Annotations such as "Song prevails over Imperial Academy", "Imperial Academy prevails over Song", or "meaning can be interpreted in both ways" must be transcribed as written. In the Song and Yuan editions and the Imperial Academy editions, "×" was used to indicate the correctness or incorrectness of variant readings. During transcription, "Song is correct", "Song is incorrect", "Imperial Academy is correct", "Imperial Academy is incorrect", or "Imperial Academy is suspected to be incorrect" were used. If there were doubts about the quoted books in the annotations that could not be clarified, the original books must be verified before transcription.
9. The collation notes had "" or "" marked outside the, or occasionally "". All such marks must be transcribed in the notes. During transcription, each quoted sentence and variant reading must be verified to determine if the collated text has been revised, supplemented, or deleted. If any revisions were missed, "original annotation revised, missed revision" must be added in the notes. If any revisions were made without being annotated, they must also be noted. If the collation notes had originally been marked with "missed revision" or "incorrect revision", they must be noted as "original annotation missed revision" or "original annotation incorrect revision" in the notes. If the collation notes originally had "missed revision word list" or "incorrect revision word list", in addition to verifying and annotating against the original collation notes, a copy of the original list must be transcribed and attached at the end of the collation notes for reference.
10. After the transcription of the collation notes is completed, it must be verified and corrected line by line. The number of corrections, revisions, missed revisions, incorrect revisions, and revisions without annotation but actually made must be counted. Finally, a collation note must be written.
Collation Notes for the Records of the Historian:
1. The Records of the Historian were handwritten by Mr. Zhang Jusheng and consist of six volumes. The red-lined paper was specially printed at the time. From top to bottom, they are arranged in the order of volume, leaf, line, Song edition, and Imperial Academy edition. They are transcribed in the same format.
2. The cover of the first volume and the last ten leaves of the sixth volume are supplementary notes. They are now interspersed within the collation notes.
3. The base edition used for the Records of the Historian is the three-commentary edition printed by Huang Shanfu in Jian'an, Southern Song Dynasty, and the reference edition is the three-commentary edition printed by the Imperial Academy in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. The former is abbreviated as "Song", and the latter as "Imperial Academy". Reference editions include the hundred-reed edition preserved by Liu Xihai in the Qing Dynasty, the single Solitary Hidden edition printed by Mao in the late Ming Dynasty, the three-commentary edition printed by Wang Yanzhe in the Ming Dynasty, and the recently printed large-character Song and Shu edition by Liu Chenggan. They are abbreviated as "reed", "Jigu", "Wang", and "Liu" respectively.
4. The format of the original draft of the collation notes first quotes the original sentences in the Song edition and adds marks for variant readings, supplementary text, or missing text. Then, the variant readings are marked in the Imperial Academy edition. The variant readings of the Wang edition are filled in the lower part of the Song and Imperial Academy editions, while those of the reed, Jigu, and Liu editions are separately noted in the Song and Imperial Academy editions. The variant readings of the Wang edition are now separately transferred to the Song and Imperial Academy editions, while the rest remain in the original format.
5. The original draft had annotations by Julu in the top and bottom and between the lines. Annotations related to variant readings were transcribed into the notes. Annotations with multiple entries were separated by "○" in order.
6. Annotations by Julu with "", "", or "" outside the collation notes in the original collation notes have already been revised in the photocopied edition of the Hundred-Reed Edition of the Records of the Historian. The revised text style is consistent with that of Huang Shanfu's edition, making it difficult to notice. However, there are occasional annotations with "" that were not actually revised, and some that were revised without annotation. All such cases must be noted in the notes.
7. The quoted sentences in the Song edition of the original collation notes occasionally had errors of transposition, omission, or addition. They are now directly corrected according to the photocopied edition.
8. The original collation notes had errors of transposition between the Song and Imperial Academy editions, meaning the quoted sentences in the Song edition were actually from the Imperial Academy edition, and the variant readings in the Imperial Academy edition were actually from the Song edition. They are now separately noted in the notes without changing the collation notes.
9. The original collation notes had over 4,900 corrections, with 1,800 annotations with "", "", or "". However, some corrections were already made in the photocopied edition, but not noted in the original draft. Du Zesong has compiled a supplementary volume of 226 entries based on the Records of the Historian with Annotations and Examinations by Mizawa Toshitada, which is attached at the end for reference.
10. The original collation notes were in running script, with very fine interlinear characters that were difficult to identify. Errors in transcription are inevitable. We sincerely ask the readers to point them out.