Late-Qīng bibliophile, woodblock-publisher and provincial official from Guī’ān 歸安 (Wúxīng 吳興), Zhèjiāng, son of 姚衡 Yáo Héng and nephew of 姚晏 Yáo Yàn. CBDB has two close records for the name 姚覲元: id 85603 (birth-year 1823, index year 1823) and id 438963 (death-year 1890, index year 1827); both are taken here as the same person, with composite dates 1823–1890 (the standard reference figure followed in Zhèjiāng bibliographic studies). Best known for the 咫進齋叢書 Zhǐjìnzhāi cóngshū and for the recutting (chóngkān 重刊) of inherited family imprints. Wrote the Tóngzhì 13 (1874) postface to KR3em029 Yānhóu màizhèng tōnglùn, which records that the original Dàoguāng 21 (1841) Guǎngzhōu blocks his father 姚衡 had commissioned were destroyed in the Tàipíng war (“江浙寇亂”); having recovered an early-impression copy in Chuāndōng 川東 in the winter of Tóngzhì 13, Yáo recut the work, faithfully reproducing the original title-page and his father’s hand-written signatures.