Eighteen History Books of Jin

Eighteen History Books of Jin (十八家晋史; Shībā Jiā Jìn Shĭ) are the history books which were published and used as the history books of the Jin dynasty before the Book of Jin was published.^[1]

They consisted of nine Books of Jin and nine Annals of Jin. Many history books about the Jin dynasty began to disappear from the scene after the Tang-era Book of Jin was written in the Zhen'guan era (貞觀; 627–649) of the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang and they became hard to find come the Song dynasty (960–1279).

Some of their contents are extant in the form of annotations found in Liu Yiqing's (劉義慶, 403–444) A New Account of the Tales of the World (Shishuo Xinyu; 世說新語), Pei Songzhi's annotations in Records of the Three Kingdoms (c. 429), Xiao Tong's (蕭統) book Wen Xuan (文選: c. 520) and Li Fang's book Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era (太平御覽: c. 980). In particular, Zang Rongxu's (臧榮緒: 415–488) Book of Jin and Wang Yin's (王隱) Book of Jin survived relatively intact to the present day.

As most of them were written during the Jin dynasty itself, it seems that they were incomplete and some of them were only of the Western Jin, though the Book of Jin by Zang Rongxu is thought to be more complete, since it recorded events from the time of Sima Yi, the first regent of Cao Wei from the Sima clan, to the fall of the Eastern Jin due to Liu Yu (劉裕: 363–422), and it consisted of 110 volumes.

Therefore, Book of Jin of Fang Xuanling (房玄齡: 579–648) is thought to have relied on Zang Rongxu's book.

The Nine Books of Jin (晉書)

Written during the Jin era

44 volumes, authored by Yu Yu^[2] [虞預『晉書』（晉）]
14 volumes, authored by Zhu Feng^[3] [朱鳳『晉書』（晉）]
93 volumes, authored by Wang Yin^[4] [王隱『晉書』（晉）]

Written during the Liu Song dynasty

36 volumes, authored by Xie Lingyun^[5] [謝靈運『晉書』（宋）]
Jin Zhong Xing Shu, 78 volumes, authored by He Fasheng^[6] [何法盛『晉中興書』（宋）]

Written during the Southern Qi era

110 volumes, authored by Zang Rongxu^[7] [臧榮緒『晉書』（斉）]

Written during the Southern Liang

110 volumes, authored by Xiao Ziyun^[8] [蕭子雲『晉書』（梁）]
Jin Shi Cao ("Draft of History of Jin"), 30 volumes, authored by Xiao Zixian^[9]
111 volumes, authored by Shen Yue^[10] [沈約『晉書』（梁）]

The Nine Annals of Jin (晉紀)

Written during the Jin era

4 volumes, authored by Lu Ji^[11] [陸機『晉紀』（晉）]
20 volumes, authored by Gan Bao^[12] [干寶『晉紀』（晉）]
10 volumes, authored by Cao Jiazhi^[13] 曹嘉之『晉紀』（晉）
11 volumes, authored by Deng Can^[14] [鄧粲『晉紀』（晉）]
46 volumes, authored by Xu Guang^[15] [徐廣『晉紀』（晉）]

Written during the Liu Song era

23 volumes, authored by Liu Qianzhi^[16] [劉謙之『晉紀』（宋）]
10 volumes, authored by Wang Shaozhi^[17] [王韶之『晉安帝紀』（宋）]
Authored by Guo Jichan^[18] [郭季產『晉錄』（宋）]
Authored by Pei Songzhi^[19] [裴松之『晉紀』（宋）]

References

^ 谢选骏全集第194卷 (in Chinese). 谢选骏. p. 222.
^ (著《晋书》四十馀卷、...) Jin Shu (Tang-era), vol.82. The Book of Sui (compiled during the Tang era) recorded that by the time it was compiled, only 26 volumes (out of the original 44) of Yu Yu's Jin Shu remained, and that the work only recorded events until the reign of Emperor Ming of Jin.(《晋书》二十六卷本四十四卷，讫明帝，今残缺。晋散骑常侍虞预撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33.
^ The Book of Sui (compiled during the Tang era) recorded that by the time it was compiled, less than 10 volumes (out of the original 14) of Zhu Feng's Jin Shu remained, and that the work only recorded events until the reign of Emperor Yuan of Jin. (《晋书》十卷未成，本十四卷，今残缺。晋中书郎朱凤撰，讫元帝。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ The Book of Sui (compiled during the Tang era) recorded that by the time it was compiled, only 86 volumes (out of the original 93) of Wang Yin's Jin Shu remained. (《晋书》八十六卷本九十三卷，今残缺。晋著作郎王隐撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (《晋书》三十六卷宋临川内史谢灵运撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ The Book of Sui recorded that Jin Zhong Xing Shu only recorded events from the Eastern Jin era. (《晋中兴书》七十八卷起东晋。宋湘东太守何法盛撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (纯笃好学，括东西晋为一书，纪、录、志、传百一十卷。) Nan Qi Shu, vol.54. (《晋书》一百一十卷齐徐州主簿臧荣绪撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (所著《晋书》一百一十卷，...) Liang Shu, vol.35. The Book of Sui (compiled during the Tang era) recorded that Xiao Ziyun's Jin Shu survived intact until the Southern Liang; by the time the Book of Sui was compiled, only 11 volumes (out of the original 102) remained. (《晋书》十一卷本一百二卷，梁有，今残缺。萧子云撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (《晋史草》三十卷梁萧子显撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ The Book of Sui (compiled during the Tang era) recorded that Shen Yue's Jin Shu was already lost by the time it was compiled. (....沈约《晋书》一百一十一卷，.....亡。 ) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (《晋纪》四卷陆机撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (王导请为司徒右长史，迁散骑常侍，著《晋纪》，自宣帝迄于湣帝五十三年，凡二十卷，奏之。其书简略，直而能婉，咸称良史。) Jin Shu (Tang-era), vol.82. The Book of Sui recorded that Gan Bao's Jin Ji had 23 volumes. (《晋纪》二十三卷干宝撰。讫湣帝。) Sui Shu, vol.33. Both works recorded that Gan Bao's Jin Ji recorded events from Sima Yi's era to Emperor Min's.
^ (《晋纪》十卷晋前军谘议曹嘉之撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ Deng Can's work focused primarily on events during the reigns of Emperor Yuan and Emperor Ming. (粲以父骞有忠信言而世无知者，著《元明纪》十篇，...) Jin Shu (Tang-era), vol.82. (《晋纪》十一卷讫明帝。晋荆州别驾邓粲撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ ([义熙]十二年，勒成《晋纪》，凡四十六卷，表上之。) Jin Shu (Tang-era), vol.82. The Book of Sui recorded that Xu Guang's Jin Ji had 45 volumes. (《晋纪》四十五卷宋中散大夫徐广撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (《晋纪》二十三卷宋中散大夫刘谦之撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (《晋纪》十卷宋吴兴太守王韶之撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ In Book of Sui, the name of Guo Jichan's work was recorded as Xu Jin Ji ("Continuation to Annals of Jin"), and had five volumes. (《续晋纪》五卷宋新兴太守郭季产撰。) Sui Shu, vol.33
^ (松之所著文论及晋纪...) Song Shu, vol.64