Pocketbook Selection of Questions and Essays
The introduction of lithography to China in the latter half of the nineteenth century led to the production of pocketbooks, often used in cheating on imperial examinations, because of the technology’s ability to print characters in remarkably small sizes. An inscription on the title pages reads “for reading when in vehicles, not to be taken into the examination compound,” which serves as a form of disclaimer. Numerous pocketbooks of the time also notably included a similar phrase within their pages. Its contents are a selection of eight-legged essays, with the first volume being a table of contents divided into various questions and the second being the selected essays.
- Item No.
- 097.1 1635 v.1 -2
- Notes
- Compiled by the proprietor of Qiushi Studio
Produced in 1892
