Yinjingjuan 蟫精雋

Yinjingjuan 蟫精雋 "Refined spirit from among the bookworms" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the early Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Xu Boling 徐伯齡 (mid-15th cent.), courtesy name Yanzhi 延之, style Guyan Shanmin 古剡山民, from Shengxian 嵊縣, Zhejiang. In fascicle 12, Zhang Xi 張錫 is quoted (ch. Tuoguansheng zhuan 籜冠生傳), who lamented that Xu Boling, despite his expertise in literature, calligraphy and music did not want to use these skills in the public service.

This book of 16 juan is a compilation of older writings, interspersed with the author's own commentary. It consists of 261 entries, of which literary critiques and poetry discussions account for about ninety percent, while commentary on miscellaneous topics comprises less than ten percent. Its structure somewhat resembles Meng Qi's 孟啟 (jinshi degree 875) Benshishi 本事詩. Moreover, because it often includes full texts, it also bears some similarity to Liu Xun's 劉壎 (b. 1240) Yinju tongyi 隱居通議.

The book preserves many fragments and accounts not found in other works, giving it a certain value as historical material. Particularly noteworthy is the author’s discussion of Zhou Deqing's 周德清 Zhongyuan yinyun 中原音韻, which is especially clear and incisive.

The book catalogue Qianqingtang shumu 千頃堂書目 lists this work as consisting of 20 juan, but the version held in the library of the Tianyi Pavilion 天一閣, on which the Siku quanshu 四庫全書 edition is based, only 16 juan. This shorter version lacks both a preface and an epilogue, and there is no table of contents. It also contains many missing characters and incomplete sentences. Many poems and essays are listed only by title, with the content itself left as blank lines, indicating that this is an incomplete, fragmentary edition.