"...The chief literary sources of Chinese myths are the Lidai shenxian tongjian 歷代神仙通鑒, the Shenxian liezhuan 神仙列傳, the Fengshen yanyi 封神演義, and the Soushen ji 搜神記. In writing the following pages I have translated or paraphrased largely from these works ... and at times quoted from the....volumes on Chinese superstitions by Père Henri Doré....in Variétés Sinologiques.--Preface.
***Graphic resource

The Latin inscription on the cover reads: “Parvi tractatus populares Taoismi (in reality it is a treatise on the three popular Chinese religions).”

Cf. Courant 5710. The Naikaku bunko owns a Ming edition (seven juan, two ce) of the Sanjiao yuanliu soushen daquan 三教源流搜神大全; see NBC, p. 287 (no further information).
Source: Albert Chan, SJ, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 22.

[JapSin I, 58 A]
JapSin I, 58 A
Two texts, forty-seven folios with Arabic numbers, bound together in one volume.

The cover bears a Latin inscription: “Est Liber exercitiorum alicujus S.J. patris qui primo anno didicit linguam sinicam monstrat laborem intensissimum et methodum illius temporis. I. Lingua vulgaris per historiuntulas. II. 1000 caracteres pueris addiscendi cum notulis Latinis P. S.J.”

Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 112. [Go to Qianziwen 千字文. [Jap-Sin I, 58 A 2]

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JapSin I, 58 A 1
Tongsu gushi 通俗故事.
By an anonymous author.
Manuscript in one volume, twenty-five folios with Arabic numbers (eight columns in each half folio marked with blue lines). In rebinding the top margins have been cut away together with some of the characters. No date. 23.5 x 16 cm.

On folio 1r, written horizontally, are the characters gong 宮, shang 商, jue 角, zhi 徵 and yu 羽, the five notes of Chinese traditional music. Under the character shang 商 are written zhong 忠, xiao 孝, lian 廉 and jie 節, which are the four virtues of loyalty, filial piety, incorruptibility and integrity. The signature of Lu Zixiu 魯子秀 is clearly written by a foreigner. However, in Pfister there is no such name among the Jesuit missioners.
As the Latin inscription says, the book is a primary text for beginners. Many of the stories are taken from popular Chinese legends. One of them, The Chinese orphan (Zhao shi gu’er 趙氏孤兒), was translated in its dramatic form by Joseph de Prémare in 1735. There are also two stories taken from Catholic sources: the wise judgment of King Solomon on the claim of the two women to a son and the martyrdom of a Christian girl who would not practice idolatry. There are also jokes and fairy tales. Though the handwriting is fairly dexterous, nevertheless there are a number of mistakes in the characters. This makes one think that the author was a catechist in the mission who often served as instructor to the missioners.

Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 112-113.

Local access Digital Archives ARSI Jap-Sin I-IV folder [JS-I-58a]
Online at ARSI via Internet Archive.

Xinbian lianxiang Soushen guangji 新編連相搜神廣記 : An example of the literary genre known as zhiguai 志怪, this work is a continuation of the popular work Soushenji. Written by Qin Zijin 秦子晉 (13/14th cent.), this edition continues its historical exploration of fantastic tales and supernatural incidents. The genre describes immortals, gods, Daoist adepts, dreams, infallible swordsmen, and omens. The style was later adapted to Buddhist and Daoist hagiography. The original work, ascribed to Gan Bao 干寶 (fl. 317-322), defended the recording of events pertaining to the spirit world as historically important.