Jilu huibian 紀錄彙編

Jilu huibian 紀錄彙編 "Collection of Records" is a series of collectanea (congshu 叢書) compiled by the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Shen Jiefu 沈節甫, courtesy name Shen Yi'an 沈以安, style Jinyu 錦宇.

Shen hailed from Wucheng 烏程 (modern Wuxing 吳興, Zhejiang), obtained his jinshi degree in 1619 and ended his career as Left Vice Minister of Works (gongbu zuo shilang 工部左侍郎). He once submitted a memorial in which he advocated a cutting of expenditure at the court and even claimed the necessity to close the imperial weaving mills and the porcelain kilns in Jiang-Zhe, but the emperor did not answer. He also submitted proposals suggesting better concepts for river conservancy. His posthumous title was Shen Duanjinggong 沈端靖公. Apart from the series, he compiled the bibliography Wanyilou cangshu mu 玩易樓藏書目 and the collection Renshu xubian 忍書續編.

His series includesd 123 titles (the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 describes an incomplete version with 119 titles) with a total length of 216 juan. It includes various writings of many different genres that were all written during the Ming period. Most of them can be called unofficial histories (yeshi 野史), but there are also quite a few novellas and poems among the texts, like Emperor Taizu's 明太祖 (r. 1368-1398) Yuzhi huangling bei 御制皇陵碑 or Emperor Xuanzong's 明宣宗 (r. 1425-1435) Xuanzong huangdi yuzhi shi 宣宗皇帝御制詩.

This part of imperial writings is followed by discourses between various officials and honours bestowed upon them, like Emperor Shizong's 明世宗 (r. 1521-1566) Chiyi huowen 敕議或問 and Li Jizhi's 劉基之 Guochu lixuan lu 國初禮賢錄.

The third part is dedicated to the crisis that erupted when Emperor Yingzong 明英宗 (r. 1435-1449) was captured by the Oirats, as narrated in the text Zhengtong linrong lu 正統臨戎錄.

Juan 24 to 25 describe the southern tour of Emperor Shizong, the next part the wars of Taizu and Chengzu 明成祖 (r. 1402-1424), and includes texts like Song Lian's 宋濂 (1310-1381) Pinghanlu 平漢錄. The middle part of the collection includes texts on the suppression of the "barbarians of the four directions". This section is followed by reports on foreign countries, like Xingcha shenglan 星槎勝覽 by Fei Xin 費信 (b. 1388) or Fengshi Annan shuicheng riji 奉使安南水程日記 by Huang Fuzhi 黃福之.

Juan 67 to 96 are reserved for texts on concrete politics, like the collection of imperial biographies Huangchao benji 皇朝本紀. Biographies of ministers and successful examination candidates are following suit, and the last part of the collectanea consists of a wide range of miscellaneous texts of the biji 筆記 "brush notes" style, unofficial histories, diaries, travel reports, anthologies, novellas, or educational texts.

The Jilu huibian is a very rich collection that includes texts not easy to find elsewhere, but the arrangement and selection of the texts is not well balanced. Some books are even not included with the full text, but only in parts.

The series was first printed in 1617, in 72 volumes. This version was reprinted as a facsimile in the series Yingyin Yuan-Ming shanben congshu shi zhong 影印元明善本叢書十種 from 1937. A selection of nine texts was published in 1935 by the Library of Yanjing University 燕京大學圖書館 under the title Jilu huibian xuankan 紀錄彙編選刊.