I think many who peruse the Oriental or Asian sections of bookstores would have seen these bilingual (Chinese & English) pictorial books published by Canfonian Pte Ltd. I used to collect their series but after years of use (and misuse) and moving three times I would like to replace the damaged and missing ones from my collection. Unfortunately it seems they have gone out of business.

Here's their list of books from their defunct website (no response via email nor phone). The ones I'm looking for especially are in bold. Others I might just want one book of a set (eg, I lost volume 3 of the 4-volumes set of Sun Tzu). If anyone has seen these books, I hope they can arrange a delivery for me. Since they are out of print I doubt there are any brand new ones, so if they are used but in acceptable condition I'm willing to negotiate.

1. ADVENTURES OF MONKEY GOD V1-4 (SET) 西游记 (4 集) NEW ED.
2. ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS V1-4 (SET) 三国演义 (四集) NEW ED
3. WATER MARGIN V1-5 (SET) 水浒传 (五集)
4. A DREAM OF RED MANSIONS V1-3 (SET) 红楼梦 (三集)
5. CANONIZATION OF DEITIES V1-3 (SET) 封神演义 (三集)
6(a) STRANGE TALES OF LIAOZHAI V1-4 (SET) 聊斋志异 (四集)
6(b) STRANGE TALES OF LIAOZHAI V5-8 (SET) 聊斋志异 (四集) I have 1-5
7. YUE FEI V1-3 (SET) 岳飞传 (三集)
8. YANG WARRIORS V1-2 (SET) 扬家将 (两集) [/b]
9. MYSTERIOUS CASES OF JUSTICE BAO V1-2 (SET) 包公奇案(两集)
10. SUN ZI’S ART OF WAR V1-4 (SET) 孙子兵法 (四集) I have 3 and 4
11. SUN ZI & SUN BIN V1-2 (SET) 兵圣两孙子 (两集)
12(a) A GENERAL HISTORY OF CHINA V 1-4 (SET) 中国通史 (1-4 集)
12(b) A GENERAL HISTORY OF CHINA V 5-8 (SET) 中国通史 (5-8 集) I have 2,3,4,5,6
13. MODERN HISTORY OF CHINA V 1-2 (SET) 中国近代史(两集)
14. UNIQUE EXPLOITS OF JIGONG V1-2 (SET) 济公传奇 (两集)
15. EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY V1¬4 (SET) 东周列国 (四集)
16. EIGHTEEN LUOHANS V 1-2 十八罗汉 (两集)
17. LEGENDS OF THE EIGHT IMMORTALS 八仙的传说
18. LIANG HONGYU 梁红玉
19. ROMANCE OF WESTERN CHAMBER 西厢记
20. QIN SHIHUANG 秦始皇 (NEW ED.)
21. OPIUM WAR 鸦片战争 (NEW ED..)
22. SINO-JAPANESE WAR OF 1894 中日甲午战争
23. EMPEROR HAN WU 汉武帝
24. BOXER UPRISING 义和团运动
25. LI SHIZHEN 李时珍
26. DR. SUN YAT-SEN 孙中山
27. CONFUCIUS - SAGE OF THE ORIENT 东方圣人--孔子 (NEW ED.)
28. TAIPING HEAVENLY KINGDOM 太平天国
29. TAN KAH KEE 陈嘉庚
30. MULAN JOINED THE ARMY 木兰从军
31. LADY WHITE SNAKE 白蛇传
32. EMPEROR TANG MING 唐明皇
33. LEGENDS OF THE 8 BEAUTIES 中国八大美人传奇
34. FU LU SHOU & CAI SHEN 福禄寿与财神
35. LAUGHING BUDDHA 弥勒佛 / 布袋和尚
36. GENGHIS KHAN 一代天骄---成吉斯汗
37. ZHENG CHENGGONG 郑成功
38. THE TRUE STORY OF AH Q 阿Q 正传
39. EMPEROR KANGXI 康熙大帝
40. ZHENG HE’S VOYAGES TO XIYANG 郑和下西洋

CHINESE CLASSICAL STORES IN ENGLISH & CHINESE 中国古典文学—文字版 (中英对照)
1. STORIES OF JIGONG (2 vols) 济公的故事 (两集)
2. JUSTICE BAO (2 vols) 包公的故事 (两集)
3. SUN ZI’S ART OF WAR (TEXT) 孙子兵法 (文字版)
4. NAZHA 哪吒

This post has been edited by ray123: Apr 6 2019, 05:46 PM

Good luck in finding them Ray123. Too bad the publisher went out of business.

I think the main problem are that the illustrations were too traditional and weren't interesting enough. At least that's how I felt when I saw these books at Popular.

Now that they're no longer available, I get the urge to read them .... [human nature, I guess... ]

I had been in contact with Popular and MPH. Only MPH replied back. They told me they were informed years ago that the publisher/owner was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and he had no plans to reprint those books.

Gosh, that's sad. Usually, if there's enough demand, someone might buy the rights from the heirs to his estate and publish them. Guess this won't be in the near future though. Now that I've looked through the list, there's actually quite a number of good historical works.

Too bad I wasn't too interested in history when I was younger, and it appears there's limited chances to purchase these books now...

By the way, are all the books on the list, dual-language, in both Chinese and English?

This post has been edited by agewisdom: Mar 29 2013, 01:02 PM

Yes, they are. Simple English too, so even a young reader can pick it up quickly.

I think the illustrations inside are derived from Chinese editions, which are available, they only added the English subtitles. I used to bought it at popular and have titles 15 and 17 anyway.

Would you be willing to part with them?

Would you mind scanning them to ebook for sharing, and I 'll scan mine.

Mmm interesting idea but no idea if it's feasible. I'll keep you in mind, I've got some contacts from people searching in Singapore.

Found some more of the books in Singapore, still looking for the others especially the ones in bold.

Hi, I can sell the books I have to you, since the books are in good condition (with plastic cover although yellowish in sides), I want to know how much you can offer me.

I managed to get a copy of #17, so I can get #15 off your hands. Can you post a few pictures to verify what you have and their condition (cover, spine and some pages to show they aren't torn off)? Depending on the quality I guess I can offer RM45 for the set of 4 books (Eastern Zhou Dynasty). But you also have to take into check the postal charges since I'm in Melaka.

Necro-bump. Still looking for these books.

Hey ray123,

What's the update on your book hunt? Still looking for those Canfonian books in print?

Yes, still looking for them. To be honest I didn't go out of my way to hunt in second book shops in KL, as I was already disappointed by the ones in Melaka.

Still looking. Always looking!

Whoops, I didn't get around to reply, sorry!

I have the complete set of the Canonization of Deities.

If you're interested, I could slowly scan them over time, but they're back in my hometown and I'm presently away. Anyways, if I scanned them, it will take a long while to upload/share them.

I can buy them off you

Hahaha, that would be the easier way eh, but sorry I don't think I'll be selling them. My family have Water Mahon and this one and we love them so much the books have been read repeatedly until the pages have come out from the spine

Tell you what, I only have Monkey God book 2 and would love the entire set. Would be interested in scanning them and I'll scan mine and exchange?

The first volume of Monkey God is 415 pages alone :S

Well, if you look at it this way, scan a few pages a day while reading it on the go. That way not so boring, and you'll have one book completed by the end of year, haha!

Also, at least you'll know at the end, we both will gain some thing in return. And if scanned properly, I'm sure you'll be able to take the e-books with you every where you go.

Hi,
I have scanned Yue Fei 1-3 and Opium War if you are interested in buying these. Do PM me.

Cheers,

I have them in physical form already, thank you for the offer.