Xuanji ("Selected Works").

Beijing: Renmin chubanshe,, 1965. Mao for the connoisseur First trade deluxe edition, printed on high-quality paper and bound in the traditional Chinese scholarly style. Each volume could be purchased separately, with a whole set costing almost 50 yuan - more than a worker's average monthly pay under Mao. Although editions of Mao's works first appeared in the 1940s, a finalized canon of four volumes - covering his activities up to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 - was incrementally published by Renmin chiubanshe (People's Publishing House) between 1951 and 1960. A deluxe edition of these volumes was first published in 1964, printed on fine paper and bound in blue silk wrappers, and copies were made available only to senior cadres and generals. This trade version uses the same text, presented in vertical columns on folded leaves. Copies were issued in folding cases made of either cloth or stiff card. Four volumes in 16 parts, large octavo. Original brown wrappers, white silk xianzhuang stitching, front covers lettered in black within black frame. Housed in publisher's 4 stiff card folding cases with title labels and plastic toggles. Text in traditional Chinese aligned vertically. Epigraph leaves printed in red. Wrappers fresh with a little creasing, traces of labels on inner covers of Volume I, edges foxed, stain on top edge of one part in Volume II. A near-fine copy in the well-preserved cases with light soiling and wear.