Twenty Stone Inscriptoins of Longmen Grottoes. Longmen er shi pin: Bei ke yu zao xiang yi shu

A bilingual edition in English and in Chinese. Stated first edition. Printed and bound in China. ISBN given as 7505202502. Size 11.5 x 8.75 inches. Bound in brown imitation leather, with crisp gilt-stamped lettering to the spine. Unbumped spine head and tail, and with sharp corners. Very clean binding. Text block firmly bound in. Illustrated pastedowns/FEPs. With unnumbered pages, on heavy-duty, semi-glossy stock. Text includes commentaries on Buddha statues or niches, some in various states of disrepair. With numerous full color plates as well as many B&W photos and very detailed line drawings. Minor page waviness throughout. Else an impressively clean interior, with no stampings or underlining observed. Appears gently read, with the text block still tight and not fanning. The full-pictorial dust jacket is intact but very rubbed, with striations across the wrappers and with some edge wear. A Very Good copy in a Good Minus DJ. 2 lbs. 6 oz. The Longmen Grottoes constitute one of China's three largest treasure troves of stone carvings. Longmen, located in the suburbs of Luoyang, Henan Province, came into existence during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty in about 493 C.E. The grottoes house 2,345 niches and more than 100,000 sculptures carrying Buddhist themes, as well as those related to architecture, music, calligraphy and medicine.…