Green Tea: Western Rare Books and Chinese Bibliographic Prints

Because I love books, I love all books about books, and the authors of such books are undoubtedly my kind, some of them are book lovers, some are bibliophiles, and people who are engaged in book-related businesses, such as editors, publishers, and so on. Reading this kind of book makes people have a tacit pleasure, a lot of emotions, a lot of infatuation and willfulness, there is no need to say much, the author does not love to explain much, it is the kind of "you know..."

"Book Making" and "Book Collection ABC" have brought me the happiest reading experience in recent times, and these two books are translated by British writer Katie and her university classmate Yu Bin. Ms. Katie was an old friend for many years, when I was editing supplements in the newspaper, Katie was one of the important authors, frequently publishing her masterpieces, when she lived in South Africa and wrote a lot about the history, customs, people and books of South Africa.

Before the outbreak of the epidemic in 2019, Kaiti traveled to Beijing, that was the first time we met, I took Kaiti, Shuyun (documentary director in the UK) and Singaporean bibliophile Xu Zhongru (who is also the owner of the famous British rare book bookstore Kui Wen Zhai) to visit the model bookstore poetry space, I want to take them to see the most beautiful church bookstore in Beijing.

Anatole France, french binding in the early 20th century, using leather embossing techniques, relief design and style, estimated to be the work of the famous framer Louis Dezé (1857-1930).

At the Model Bookstore, he chatted with the owner Jiang Xun and held a "Chinese and Western Book Collection Forum" in the bookstore, invited Xu Zhongru to talk with the bibliophile Wei Li, and exhibited Xu Zhongru's western rare books and Wei Li's collection of rare Chinese books on the spot. It was so happily finalized.

Unexpectedly, not long after, the epidemic ravaged the world, and this plan was temporarily shelved. What is even more unexpected is that on January 16, 2022, Jiang Xun died unexpectedly while moving books in the bookstore warehouse, which made people deeply sad.

The Western tradition of "making books"

"Making Books" is a masterpiece of the art of hand-binding western books, first published in 1901, and has been more than 120 years, "still the benchmark of the industry". The book systematically combs through the history and flow of the art of hand binding, as well as its specific techniques and steps, and is written by Douglas Cochrell, a master of the art of book binding in Britain.

"Making Books"

By Glass Cochrell

Translated by Yu Bin KaiTi

Published by Yilin Publishing House

In the middle of the 19th century, machinery began to replace handicrafts, and the Centuries-old Tradition of Western Handmade Books encountered an unprecedented crisis, and william Morris, the leader of the British Fine Arts and Crafts Movement, led the anti-mechanization and anti-mass production movement, and many master craftsmen were also influenced by this movement and set up handmade book workshops, among which the Dover Binding Workshop founded by the book binding master Thomas Cobden Sanderson was very influential. Cochryer, 23, also came to Dover Tor as an apprentice, drawing on the spirit and values of the place.

Williams Opera, Nuremberg, 1496, German pigskin binding around the same time, brass clasp, colorless embossing: coat of arms of the double eagle, Maria banner and rose. A paper title is affixed to the cover

A few years later, Cockriel opened his own binding workshop on Charing Cross Street, London's famous book street, and also taught book binding at the Central School of Fine Arts and Crafts.

The Book of Creation is derived from his teaching. The book tells the story of the Western art tradition of binding from the 9th to the 19th century, mainly the tradition of handmade book binding. This period is relative to China, that is, the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, that is, the transition from the "Codex Era" of the Tang Dynasty to the "Engraving Era" of the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, the Chinese tradition of wire-bound book binding.

Collected Poems of Henri de Rainier, Paris, 1914, 1927 Moroccan leather binding, framed by Canape & Corriez, colour-set veneers, gilded threads, ivory and brown Moroccan-encrusted music motifs in the center of the cover

This is undoubtedly a "handbook technical manual", and more than 100 years later, if you are a handbook lover, you can make a "unique" handmade book by following the steps described in the Cockrier book. In the era of such fast book printing, in the era of reading the universal Internet, we should advocate the anti-electronic, anti-fast food reading concept, when handwriting has become a luxury behavior, if you can keep a manual text memory for yourself, it is a rare cure in the epidemic era.

The Book of Time, Paris, France, 1506, coincident with brown Moroccan leather, gilded embossed with a pattern representing the tears and flames of the Holy Spirit

Western "book collection" ecology

The ABC Collection was first published in 1952 and is 70 years old. The author, John Carter, is a rare book dealer and collector. The book has been published in its ninth edition and republished more than 20 times, and is a classic reading book in the collection of rare Books in the West. The Western book collection has been comprehensively sorted out in the form of A-Z entries, and many book collection terms are involved under each entry, so that we can clearly understand the richness of the book collection world and the interesting ecology of the reading world.

ABC Collection

By John Carter

Translated by Yu Bin KaiTi

Published by Yilin Publishing House

Through the rich entries in "ABC", combined with their usual book collection and reading preferences, let's talk about those things about books -

ADVANCE COPY

Publishers have salesmen (distributors) bring new book advances to book fairs for "pre-sale", in addition to providing them to book critics, select booksellers and book clubs. It is usually the final proof or the earliest printed page, mostly wrapped in white paper or printing paper. These "pre-releases" may differ from the official version in content or binding, and naturally become the object of pursuit by savvy bibliophiles.

In the domestic publishing industry, this version is called "trial reading", that is, before the book is officially published, the publishing house will first print out some "trial reading books" for book critics, media and authors' friends to take a sneak peek, and use this to give back some reading opinions. I have been fortunate enough to have access to many of these "demo books" over the years, which have become a considerable "theme collection" for me.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Calligraphy is the study of books as objects of study. It is an important reference for bibliophiles, booksellers, librarians, bibliographers and experts in various fields.

In the West and Japan, it is commonly called calligraphy, while in China, it is called bibliography. Ancient Chinese books and Western rare books are very different in terms of version concepts, so the methods and dimensions of research are also very different. In terms of my collection and reading, I mainly focus on edition bibliographic books, as well as various "reading secretaries" of ancient Chinese bibliophiles and bibliographers.

Book Chapter (BOOK-STAMP)

The medallion is made of metal or rubber, ink or blindly printed on a liner, guard page, title page or cover, and is pressed with metal laminated film, whether gilded or not. In addition to the book seal, the West also has a book stamp, which is also an additional "collection mark" in the collection.

Comparatively speaking, in the Chinese bibliophile tradition, the element of the bibliographic chapter is more abundant, the golden stone seal carving itself is a very important category in Chinese culture, although the bibliographic seal is only a small classification in the golden stone seal carving, but also leaves a lot of valuable research space for the Chinese bibliographic tradition, especially in the transmission of Chinese ancient books to leave a wealth of information. I will focus on sharing a book later on "Wonderful: The History and Culture of Chinese Book Printing".

Raw edge (DECKLEEDGES)

DECKLE-FETISHISM

In modern books, rough edge books appear to be "temperamental", but rough books are widely favored by collectors, usually a book only has a limited amount of "raw edge books". And "burring" can't help but say that it is particularly fond of burr.

Rough book has become the norm in book production, and authors usually ask publishers to reserve a limited number of one or two hundred raw books for friends and friends, and write their own numbers. The used book platform "Confucius Used Books Network" is a distribution center for rough books, they have close interaction with publishers and authors, usually they will ask for exclusive production and sale of raw books, and this business continues to be very hot.

And people who love rough books, known in China as the "rough edge party", this group is not small, for the hot sales of raw edge books play a role in fueling the waves. In most book lovers' study rooms, raw books occupy a large position. I also have a lot of rough books in my house, but I am often reluctant to cut them out to read, and if I need to read them, I will buy another ordinary book.

In addition, the limited edition (LIMITED EDITION), the edition of the unique characteristic collector (POINT-MANIACS), proof copies (PROOF COPIES), unique (unique) and so on, all represent the unique taste of book lovers, bibliophiles and the secret joy of "no one has me".

The history and culture of Chinese book collection and printing

"Wonderful Nothing" is the work of Wang Yuelin, a scholar of tibetan books and seals, who deeply studies the history and culture of Chinese book collections and seals, and reads them to open their eyes, so that between the inches, it reveals the rich world of Chinese book collection history.

"Nothing More"

Wang Yuelin

Published by the National Library

The Chinese book seal and the Western book collection ticket are called the two wonders of the history of the world's book collection. The book seal is used by the book collector to identify the property rights, and it is also part of the book collection activities that reflect reading, appreciation, and collation, so that the seal of the book seal remains on the book. As an iconic symbol of official and private collectors, the book seal accompanied the rise and fall of ancient books, and eventually gained wide recognition as "the collection must have an imprint".

Although the seal of the book is only inches away, it has a close connection with the history of the collection, and the complex and secret concepts and psychology of the bibliophiles of the past generations, as well as the authenticity of ancient books, the transmission of editions, and other information, have all been passed down to the present day through this small world. The literati and bibliophiles of all generations have also expressed their personal feelings and feelings through the book seal, and behind the concise words, there are the yin yin heart songs and complex voices of the literati of the past.

Ancient Chinese book collections

In his "Introduction to The Seal of Collected Books and Editions", the scholar Wang Jing divided the tibetan book seals into 20 categories: name seals, hall number seals, identification seals, proofreading seals, ornamental seals, chronicle seals, Shilu seals, Mendi seals, Liju seals, Xingdi seals, proverbs seals, Jiyu seals, poetry seals, allusions seals, zodiac seals, chronological seals, court seals, fanfu seals, official book seals, miscellaneous seals, etc. A total of 20 categories.

And so many categories can be summarized into three categories, namely, famous seals, tibetan seals and idle seals. I love all kinds of bibliophiles' idle chapters, which more vividly show the interests, feelings, life experiences and leisurely feelings of the ancient literati, as well as helplessness and sadness.

For example, there is a type of "once somewhere" print, which deeply expresses the helplessness and loss of the bibliophile. No matter how great the bibliophile, no matter how precious the ancient books, after all, the companions only have a short life, and in the end, these books will go into history and become the treasures of others.

Everything in the world gathers and scatters, especially books. "Once somewhere" can be described as a psychological expression of the bibliophile's self-consolation, and it also leaves a clue for future generations of collectors to pursue.

The earliest such collections were printed by the early Qing dynasty bibliophile Jiang Jie's "books were once stored in Jiang Xuanchen's family." In addition, there are Li Fu's "once at Li Lushan", Shen Ci's "Once in the Yunjian Xiaoyuan Shen Family", Bao Tingbo's "Once in Bao Yiwen's Place", Zhao Zongjian's "Once in the Old Mountain Building", Dong Kang's "Once in Dong's Reciting Room", Qian Tianshu's "Once Hidden Qian Menglu's Family", Xu Weiren's "Once Hidden by Xu Zishan", Liu Chenggan's "Once Collected by Liu Hanyi in Nanlin", Zhou Yueran's "Once Left Wu xing Zhou's Yan Yan Zhai", Zhou Shuhan's "Once in Zhou Shu's House", and so on.

Ancient Chinese book collections

In the history of Chinese book collection, there is a large seal of 253 words on one side, belonging to the late Qing dynasty bibliophile Yang Jizhen, which can be described as a vivid expression of the many complex psychology of the ancient people's book collection, and the record is as follows:

To Xi's ancestors, there are fields to cultivate, there are books to read, from less and longer, love of the Meduk, accumulated years of income, benefit from the old storage of green boxes, plugs and shelves, no worries about hundreds of thousands of volumes, leisurely meditation, almost proud. Gu Shu is difficult to gather and easy to disperse, that is, occasionally gathered in the favor, the more one or two passes, its non-dispersion is also rare. Former Zhao Wenmin has a cloud: "Gathering books and collecting books, good is not easy, good books are good, cheng shen is worried, clean a few incense, do not curl the brain, do not bend the horns, do not invade the words with claws, do not use spit to reveal the banner, do not use it as a pillow, do not use it as a stab." To say that Wu Xing said a few words, cherishing Zhen Zhi, but the clouds were strong, and he could not push it to the end, please further derive: "Do not borrow money, do not borrow people, do not use the descendants of Xiao Xiao." The master of the Star Wind Hall, Yang Jizhen, knows his hands and tells him that what he has to do is a book, and he who can love and keep it. "To collect hundreds of thousands of volumes, the rate is all neat and tidy, the logo is clear, do not dare to do dan huang lightly, create robbery, to the beginning and end of the book, the bell Zhu tired, then the unique habit, do not reduce Merlin, steal self-satisfaction, the book, not for no help."

Reading the Indian text carefully, it can be described as bitter mouth and mixed feelings. Yang Jizhen's making of this seal is naturally also an expression of his own view of the book collection and his expectations for the fate of his books. "Do not borrow money, do not borrow people, and do not use them to fail to show offspring." The master of the Star Wind Hall, Yang Jizhen, knows his hands and tells him that what he has to do is a book, and he who can love and keep it. ”

Chen Dengyuan, a bibliographer of the Republic of China editions, in his "Ancient and Modern Classics Gathering and Dispersing Examination", described in detail and vividly the history and source of the gathering and dispersion of ancient and modern classics, ancient books have their own misfortunes and luck in the transmission of successive dynasties, even after the "five misfortunes", "ten misfortunes" and even "thirteen misfortunes", we can still read such rich ancient classics today, which shows how indelible the bibliophiles of all generations have played an indelible role in the inheritance of Chinese classics and Chinese civilization, and are connected through the collection of books on one side after another. Witness the vicissitudes of an ancient book from its birth to the present day.