Lidai xiaoshi 歷代小史

Lidai xiaoshi 歷代小史 "Lesser histories through the ages" is a series of collectanea (congshu 叢書) compiled by the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) collector Li Shi 李栻 (jinshi degree 1565). It includes 106 books with a total length of 106 juan.

From these figures it can be seen that the historiographical books included in the Lidai xiaoshi are only very short excerpts of the originals. Each book is introduced by a short preface written by Chen Wenzhu 陳文燭 (b. 1525, jinshi degree 1565). There is unfortunately no guideline to the compilation at the beginning of the series, so that the working structure and objective of the compiler is not very clear. It has therefore also been criticised as not of a very high standard.

There is a surviving print from the Wanli reign-period 萬曆 (1573-1619), but in with two different editions.