Cong Ding Illus (2 results)

THIS VOL ONLY, octavo softcover (VG+); all our specials have minimal description to keep listing them viable. They are at least reading copies, complete and in reasonable condition, but usually secondhand; frequently they are superior examples. Ordering more than one book may reduce your overall postage costs. All online listings are held in Dunedin.

Second edition of Ding Cong's emotive illustrations for Lu Xun's influential episodic novella. "Within years of his creation, Ah-Q - Lu Xun's most extended denunciation of the idiotic, able-bodied everyman - had begun to enter the language as expressive shorthand for every imaginable blemish on the national character" (Lovell). Ding (1916-2009) brought to visual life several works by Lu and Lao She. In the late 1950s, Ding's artwork fell afoul of the Maoist crusade against "rightism" and he did not begin drawing again until 1979. Ding's illustrations were first published in 1945. Both the first and second editions are uncommon in collectible condition. Julia Lovell (trans.), The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China, 2009. Small octavo. With 24 plates with tissue guards captioned in red, illustrated title page. Original brown cloth, front cover blocked in silver, publisher's device in blind on rear board. Contemporary price stamp on rear free endpaper. Couple of areas of residue on front cover, light toning internally: a near-fine copy.