Download or read book Erotic Colour Prints of the Ming Period written by Robert Hans van Gulik and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2004 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1949 the sinologist Robert van Gulik (also known now for his Judge Dee mysteries) purchased in a Tokyo curio-shop a set of printing blocks of a Ming Erotic Album. Two years later the album, with an extensive treatise, was published by Van Gulik himself in a 50 copies print run, sent to a small group of Sinological libraries, as “the erotic prints and other data ought not to fall into the hands of unqualified readers”. It was to be the author's first work on the subject, preceding his 'groundbreaking' Sexual Life in Ancient China (new edition, Brill, 2002). Unqualified readers have now at last become qualified with this official edition. James Cahill, Wilt Idema and Soeren Edgren provide readers with indispensable introductions to its art historical, literary, biographical, and book technical context. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789004131606).