Tianlu linlang shumu 天祿琳瑯書目

(Qinding) Tianlu linlang shumu (欽定)天祿琳瑯書目 "(Imperially endorsed) Catalogue of the Tianlu Linlang Library" is an official bibliography of the books stored in the Tianlu Linlang Room 天祿琳瑯室 (meaning "Gems of Heavenly Favour") of the Qianqing Hall 乾清宮 of the Imperial Palace. This library was installed in 1749. The book, with a length of 10 juan, was compiled in 1775 under the supervision of Yu Minzhong 于敏中 (1714-1779).

The more than 1,000 books included in the catalogue (429 in the main text and 663 in the supplement) are very rare copies from the Song 宋 (960-1279) and later periods. All editions are recorded in detail. The books are arranged chronologically in dynasties, and only below the level of dynasties, they are grouped into the traditional four categories of Confucian Classics, histories, masters and philosophers, and belles-lettres.

Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) reprints of Song and Liao-period 遼 (907-1125) books are subsumed under the original time period. For all books, the compilers of the catalogue added important informations about the authors, the process of the compilation, the chapters of the book, and the various existing editions. Important prefaces and afterwords are copied into the catalogue. If books contained an ex-libris, this signature was transcribed into a calligraphic kaishu script 楷書 mark.

Figure 1. Example from the Tianlu linlang shumu 天祿琳瑯書目

Bibliographical entry on a commentary on the Guliang Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annals, with phonetic notes, edition of the Directorate of Education (Jianben fuyin Chunqiu Guliang zhushu 監本附音春秋榖梁注疏), ten booklets in two cases, arranged in 12 juan, and a preface by Yang Shixun 楊士勛. Contains the jijie commentary 集解 of Fan Ning 范寗 from the Jin period, Yang Shixun's shu 疏 commentary from the Tang period, and Kong Yingda's 孔穎達 phonetic remarks (yinyi 音義) from the Tang period. The compilers then try to date the print with the help of a quotation in the book Chaoye zaji 朝野雜記 and the book Fanxianji 藩獻記 of Zhu Mouhan 朱謀㙔 (1552-1624). The entry ends with detailed records of ex-libris seals spread over all chapters of the book, in this case, five different seals.

The arrangement of the Tianlu linlang shumu had a great influence on later official catalogues, especially the Zongmu tiyao 總目提要 catalogue of the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. The library was destroyed in 1797 by a fire, and a large part of the books recorded in the bibliography are lost. Shi Tingyong 施廷鏞 (1893-1983) therefore compiled a catalogue of surviving copies, the Tianlu linlang cha cun shumu 天祿琳瑯查存書目. Zhang Yunliang 張允亮 (1889-1952) compiled the Tianlu linlang xiancun shumu 天祿琳瑯現存書目.

In 1932 the Imperial Palace Museum published a series including the surviving copies, the Tianlu linlang congshu 天祿琳瑯叢書. These books are now kept in the Palace Museum in Taibei.

The bibliography was in 1797 enlarged by a supplement (Houbian 後編) of 20 juan compiled under the supervision of Peng Yuanrui 彭元瑞 (1731-1803). This supplement is called (Qinding) Tianlu linlang shumu houbian (欽定)天祿琳琅書目後編.

The Tianlu lilang shumu itself, together with the supplement, was printed in 1884 by Wang Xianqian 王先謙 (1842-1918).