The Golden Lotus 4 Volumes by Chin P'ing Mei Translated by Clement Egerton, 1972 HC/DJ

Story Title: The Golden Lotus (Chin P'ing Mei)

Issue #: Volumes 1–4 (Complete Set)

Date of Publication: 1972 reprints (original translation 1939)

Edition: Clement Egerton Translation (Routledge & Kegan Paul)

Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP)

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Language: English

Writers: The author of The Golden Lotus is Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng, whose name, a pseudonym, means "Scoffing Scholar of Lanling." Translated by Clement Egerton

Characters: Hsi-men Ch'ing, P'an Chin-lien (Golden Lotus), Li P'ing-erh, and the large household ensemble

Key Facts: Classic English translation of the famous (and often banned) Ming Dynasty Chinese erotic novel Jin Ping Mei. Known for its detailed portrayal of daily life, society, and human relationships in 16th-century China.

Admired in its own time for its literary qualities and biting indictment of the immorality and cruelty of its age, it has also been denigrated as a "dirty" book for its sexual frankness. It centres on Ximen Qing, a wealthy, young, dissolute, and politically connected merchant, and his marriage to a fifth wife, Pan Jinlian, literally "Golden Lotus." In her desire to influence her husband and, through him, control the other wives, concubines, and entire household, she uses sex as her main weapon. The Golden Lotus lays bare the rivalries within this wealthy family while chronicling its rise and fall. It fields a host of vivid characters, each seeking advantage in a corrupt world. This great work, written in the late Ming but set in the Song Dynasty, is a virtuoso collection of voices and vices, mixing in poetry and song and sampling different social registers, from popular ballads to the language of bureaucrats, in order to recreate and comment mordantly on the society of the time. This edition features a new introduction by Robert Hegel of Washington University, who situates the novel for contemporary readers and explains its greatness as the first single-authored novel in the Chinese tradition. This translation contains the complete, unexpurgated text as translated by Clement Egerton with the assistance of Shu Qingchun, later known as Lao She, one of the most prominent Chinese writers of the twentieth century.

Page Count: Approx. 1,500+ pages across 4 volumes

Condition: Very good blue cloth hardcovers in very good dust jackets, there is some foxing on the flyleaf in all 4 volumes otherwise unmarked, well bound and bright pages.