Nan tian hen ("Traces of Heaven in the South").

[Likely Beijing or Shanghai:] Fu gu she,, 1910. A timely statement of loyalty to the Ming dynasty First edition, first printing, chronicling the officials and soldiers who served the short-lived Southern Ming dynasty, the main resistance to the Manchu invasion of China. Though unmarked as such, this copy is from the library of the Dutch diplomat and Sinologist Roland van den Berg. In 1644, in the face of overwhelming Manchu military force, the last Ming emperor - Chongzhen - hung himself in Beijing. At the head of a rump of loyal officials, Prince Fu (r. 1644-5) proclaimed the founding of the Southern Ming dynasty in China's second city, Nanjing. After a Qing assault on Nanjing ended Fu's reign, Princes Tang (r. 1645-6) and Gui (1646-61) led loyalist opposition into the 1660s. The final snuffing out of anti-Qing resistance occurred in 1683, when the loyalists and their leader, Zhang Keshuang (1670-1707), surrendered to the Kangxi emperor. Nan tian hen draws on the Nanjiang yi shi, an extensive early 18th-century chronicle of Southern Ming history compiled by Wen Ruilin. It was published in the penultimate year of the Qing dynasty, when republican and revolutionary feeling, mixed with a renewed sense that the Ming was the last "true" Chinese dynasty, was sapping imperial authority. The publisher's name - "Fu gu she" (Revival Press) - speaks to its anti-Qing standpoint. In this copy, all the title labels have been ripped off (three survive loosely inserted), and this is perhaps an indication that the first owner feared punishment at the hands of the Qing authorities. It is unclear how many copies entered circulation, and we have traced only nine in institutional libraries, including seven in the US and one each in Hong Kong and Germany. Provenance: Roland van den Berg served in the Office of the Netherlands Charge d'Affaires in China between 1962 and 1966. In 1986, he returned to a China that had undergone significant change and served as Dutch Ambassador until 1992. 26 parts in 6 vols, octavo. Text in Chinese. Original buff wrappers, white thread xianzhuang stitching, remains of original printed title labels on front covers. Housed in custom blue cloth slipcase and chemise. 20th-century red ownership seal on title page; 1980s bookseller's ink stamps on rear wrapper of Vol. I; title in black ink contemporary manuscript on bottom edges. Wrappers sunned, title labels all removed, contents evenly toned: an exemplary copy.