《异域志》新论

Re-studies on Yiyu Zhi

《异域志》现存明正德二年(1507)《艺海汇函》抄本一卷和明万历二十五年(1597)《夷门广牍》刻本二卷,均是文字本,两本内容十分接近。《夷门广牍》本将此书题署为元人周致中所纂是错误的。《艺海汇函》本保存的静明子序,可以比较充分地说明元至正二十七年(1367)周致中献《臝虫录》给胡惟庸、洪武年间胡惟庸与开济为《臝虫录》作序跋,洪武建文之际朱权改编《臝虫录》为《异域志》的基本史实,是非常关键的史料。而通过静明子序使用的“吴元”纪年的分析,则可以说明其可靠度很高。明清各种文献大量著录、引用《异域志》,说明《异域志》非常流行。但是有的文献所引《异域志》的内容和今本《异域志》相仿,有的内容却不见于今本《异域志》,说明还有别本《异域志》的存在,甚至还可以推测是一种图文本的《异域志》。

There exists two editions of Yiyu Zhi.One handwritten copy from the series Yihai Huihan of 2^(nd)year of Zhengde(1507)of the Ming era and one printed copy from the series Yimen Guangdu of 25^(th)year of Wanli(1597)of the Ming era.Both versions are pure texts,and the contents are very close.The author of Y imen Guangdu claimed that the author of Yiyu Zhi was Zhou Zhizhong of the Yuan era.This claim is wrong.There is a preface written by Jingming Zi preserved in Yihai Huihan which can fully illustrate several basic historical facts:firstly,Luochong Lu by Zhou Zhizhong was presented to Hu Weiyong in the 27^(th)year of Zhizheng(1367)of the Yuan era;secondly,Hu Weiyong and Kai Ji wrote prefaces and postscripts for Luochong Lu in the Hongwu period(1368-1398 AD)of Ming era;thirdly,Luochong Lu was rewrote into Yiyu Zhi by Zhu Quan between the time of Hongwu and Jianwen periods(1398-1402 AD).This preface is a very critical historical material.Many books in the Ming and Qing era recorded and cited Yiyu Zhi which give us an impression that Yiyu Zhi was very popular in that time.But sometimes the content of Yiyu Zhi in Ming-Qing books is the same as what we can read today,sometimes the content is not the same.So we can say that there might be a different edition of Yiyu Zhi in the Ming-Qing periods,perhaps we can guess there was an edition with both text and illustrations.