The Imperial Calendar of the Twenty-Fifth Year of the Yongli Emperor of the Great Ming, the year of Xinhai
Description
Calendar of the Southern Ming dynasty made by the anti-Manchu
loyalist regime led by Coxinga and his heirs. This is one of the
earliest examples of printing in Taiwan. Currently bound in 18th
century Western bindings, the book could have been part of the 50
copies of the same title sent by Zheng Jing as a gift to Henry
Dacres, the East India Company's agent in Bantam. The calendars
were objects of fascination for European intellectuals such as
Elias Ashmole and Robert Boyle, who vaguely realised the books'
connection to astrology.
For more information, see
http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/library-and-archives/17th-century-chinese-book-identified-christ-church-library-collections.
