Picture Story of the Romance of Liang Shan-Pai and Chu Ying-Tai.

[Fuzhou: Ling Yu Sing Gift Shop,, c.1930]. A beautifully illustrated bilingual retelling of the "Butterfly Lovers", a famous Chinese legend of true love conquering all. This album was produced in Fuzhou by the Ling Yu Sing Gift Shop which specialized in momentos of Chinese history and culture for the lucrative tourist market. Each of the ten paintings faces a caption in Chinese with an English translation below. The legend tells of the thwarted love between two scholars: Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Zhu's father has already arranged for her to marry a wealthy merchant, leaving Liang to die of a broken heart. On the day of the wedding, however, as the procession passes the site of Liang's burial, a clap of thunder sounds and his grave opens up. Zhu descends to join him, and thus can be with her beloved forever. The story is also immortalized in the world-renowned "Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto", composed by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, which premiered in 1959. Octavo, concertina-style (205 x 143 mm), pp. [21]. With 10 colour paintings on silk, mounted within pattern-woven off-white silk borders. Original bevelled wooden boards, front cover with green hand-carved roundel with Chinese character "fu" ("prosperity"), title in manuscript on cloth strip pasted to front pastedown, top and bottom edges gilt. Boards slightly bowed, contents clean and bright, one fold neatly consolidated with adhesive at foot. A near-fine example.