Under the direction of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, China-CEEC Libraries Union was established in October 2018 in Hangzhou, China, with its secretariat permanently set in Hangzhou Public Library. More than 60 libraries from China and CEEC, on a voluntary basis, seek common progress made on the principle of "equality, mutual benefit, inclusiveness and openness". 

The Very Collection in My Library aims to introduce treasures kept in each member library to audience in China and Central and Eastern European countries and bring ancient books into the limelight, through of which people could enhance their understanding of cultures and histories of other countries.

This episode here is presented by Mr. Liu Weicheng, the Director of HuBei Provincial Library, introducing you A Collection of Seals Engraved by Fang Yuanchang. 

(The Very Collection in My Library is updated on Cooperation between China and CEEC official website http://www.china-ceec.org/ and CHINA CULTURE.org https://cn.chinaculture.org/.)

As we all know, seal cutting is an ancient and unique skill originating in China, which is also an traditional art combing calligraphy and engraving. Originally, the content of seals was stamped on papers using ink pad and typeset into certain format, which in version style, is called Qian sealing-style in Chinese culture. A Collection of Seals Engraved by Fang Yuanchang, completed in 1620 in the Ming Dynasty, is this kind of version.

The author of this book, Fang Fengji, who styled himself as "Yuanchang", is from Baixia (now Nanjing, Jiangsu province of China). Unfortunately, there are few records about his life in history books . 

The art of seal cutting has different characteristics in different historical phases. Between the Zhengde and Jiajing periods of Ming Dynasty, seal cutting began to flourish again after declining. Fang Yuanchang was the representative seal engraver in this transitional period. It is obvious that his seal cutting style was influenced by the previous and subsequent changes of society environment. His historical status also determines the artistic value of this book. A Collection of Seals Engraved by Fang Yuanchang collects 893 seal stamps carved by Fang Fengji in his lifetime, which is spectacular. These works are divided into two volumes and each seal is accompanied by an explanation.

The books of Qian sealing-style cannot be put into mass production because of hand-making with low yields. With the passage of time, they are much more rarely preserved. It is known that there are only 53 books of Qian sealing-style preserved in Ming Dynasty of our nation. A Collection of Seals Engraved by Fang Yuanchang is the only existing copy, so the value is self-evident. It is remarkable that this book was completed in 1620, the same year of the emperor of Ming Dynasty changing. So the year of 1620 was called not only the 48th year of Wanli period, but also the first year of Taichang period. However, the emperor of Taichang passed away after one month of reigning, and was called "the One-month Emperor" in history. The reign title of Taichang was abolished after 5 months. This book happened to be produced in 1620, which is relatively rare in history, so it also has a unique cultural relic value.

"See the exquisite and ingenious from seals in small inch." Time goes by and things change. This book was later kept by Xu Xingke, a famous bibliophile in Wuchang in modern times. In the 1960s, A Collection of Seals Engraved by Fang Yuanchang was donated to Hubei Provincial Library together with Xu Xingke's other collection. Now the book has been included in the "the Catalog of National Rare Ancient Books". It is definitely a great contribution that the book has been properly preserved.