Shikui cangshu 石匱藏書

Shikui cangshu 石匱藏書 "The book of the stone case", also called Shikuishu 石匱書, is a history book in 220 juan written by the very late Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Zhang Dai 張岱 (1597-c. 1676), courtesy name Zongzi 宗子, later Shigong 石公, style Tao'an 陶庵 or Die'an Jushi 蝶庵居士, from Shanyin 山陰 (close to Shaoxing 紹興), Zhejiang. He hailed from a family very interested in the preservation of historical documents, and had therefore access to a private "archive" or library. Zhang began to write his chronicle in 1628.

The book describes the history of the Ming dynasty from its foundations to the Tianqi reign-period 天啟 (1621-1627). It consists of the typical types of chapters, namely imperial annals-biographies (benji 本紀), treatises (zhi 志), biographies of hereditary houses (shijia 世家), normal and collective biographies (liezhuan 列傳), and "researches" (kao 考) into 'barbarian' affairs. Many biographical chapters are headed by a general introduction (zonglun 總論, xu 叙) and enriched by a final discussion (lunduan 論斷).

Part of the book (juan 12-23) is missing. It was planned to include tables, but only the prefaces were written or have survived.

A supplement to the book called Shikuishu houji 石匱書後集 has a length of 63 juan (7 juan missing). It focuses on the Chongzhen reign-period 崇禎 (1628-1644) and the Southern Ming 南明 (1644-1661). Its arrangement is the same as the Shikuishu, but no treatises are included, and it is enriched with a biography of the author and his laudatory tomb inscription.

The Houji was extensively used by Gu Yingtai 谷應泰 (1620-1690), when he wrote his book Mingshi jishi benmo 明史紀事本末. It includes the biographies of no less than 385 persons. Zhang's most important source for this supplement was the official gazette of the Ming dynasty (dibao 邸報). Even if the compiler was a distinguished supporter of the Ming against the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911), his book provides valuable information not found in other sources.

The earliest print of the Shikuishu was produced by the Fengxi Studio 鳳嬉堂. The Houji was published in 1959 in a modern edition by the Zhonghua Book company 中華書局.