Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 987 Song Ben
"What?!" Professor Lu was taken aback: "How did you know it? What if it's a photocopy of the Ming Dynasty?"

In the Song Dynasty, Guangdu was in the area of ​​Shuangliu County, the capital of Shu today. The Pei family was a famous calligrapher at that time. Zhou Zhi said that this booklet was the engraved version of the Pei family in Guangdu, which means that it was the original Shu engraved in the Song Dynasty.

When it comes to photocopying, many people think that it is photography and then copying and printing, which is something only in modern times. In fact, this is a misunderstanding caused by the new use of an ancient word.

Photocopying, in ancient times, actually refers to "untouched reproduction", including the taboos, mistakes and omissions in the original book, and the seals collected by celebrities in the past, etc., are all copied from the ancient brain, and even the binding and framing are made exactly the same as the ancient original. It's called photocopying.

For example, after the economy developed in the Ming Dynasty, many bookstores spared no effort to produce some photocopies. Among them, "Selected Works of Zhaoming" carved in Song Dynasty is one of them.

It seems that Professor Lu is also a great expert. Knowing that "Selected Works of Zhaoming" has a Song version of Mingying, he immediately asked a professional question.

Zhou Zhi smiled and said: "Let's talk about the layout first. The layout of Shu engraved editions in the Song Dynasty is clear and clear, with large characters, medium characters, and small characters. The description in "Zangyuan Supplementary Catalog": "Song Guangdu Pei's publication, large version heart, eleven lines Eighteen characters, 26 characters in double lines, white mouth, double columns on the left and right...The font is sparse and clear, with the style of Yanliu, it is undoubtedly the original of Shu'."

"This volume of "Selected Works of Zhaoming" is dominated by Yan style, the characters are as big as money, the handwriting is clear, and the engraving is exquisite. It is the characteristic of the Northern Song Dynasty Chinese engraved edition."

"Let's talk about ear titles, ear titles are also called book ears, that is, outside the left and right columns of the edition frame, mark the chapters or main purposes of this page in small characters, which are mostly seen in Song block editions, and are rarely used in later generations."

"About the ear question, modern bibliophile Qun Bilou's master Deng Bangshu said, 'Most of the books with ears belong to the Song edition, but the Zhongtong edition of "Historical Records" also has it. However, it is a Southern Song edition, so it cannot be discussed as a Yuan edition. Only in the Ming Dynasty, there are also printed editions occasionally, such as "Gu's Study Room Novels", which are also imitated engraved editions, and are also called excellent editions'."

"This volume of "Selected Works of Zhaoming" also has this feature."

Professor Lu said: "But as far as I know, people in the Ming Dynasty photocopied "Illumination Anthology" and completely copied these features, which is the 'Ming Ming engraved editions are also occasionally present' you just mentioned."

"Yes." Zhou Zhi said with a smile, "There are also quite a few high-quality engraved books in the Ming Dynasty, such as the set of "Ji Zhong San Ji" in my collection."

"As far as the book "Selected Works of Zhaoming" is concerned, in Mao Chunxiang's "Often Talks on Ancient Book Versions", there are more than [-] kinds of exquisite engravings by Ming people, of which there are only five kinds called "extremely famous", and "Zhaoming" is in the middle. anthology"."

"The most exquisite "Selected Works of Zhaoming" in the Ming Dynasty is precisely the Jiaqutang of the Jiajing Yuan family in the Ming Dynasty. It was reprinted and collated from the engraved edition of Pei's family in Guangdu of the Song Dynasty."

"Historical records say that this set of engraving and printing took [-] years before and after, and the cost is huge. The format is grand and the font is strong and elegant. Well, Song Taboo is still the same as before, very refined and kind."

"This book has a very high status among many engraved books of the Ming Dynasty. Later generations specially included it in "Shu Lin Qing Hua·The Best of Ming Ren's Carved Books". The ink is excellent. The font is square and firm, and it is a wonderful product of the Ming Dynasty."

"And when discussing the essence of the engraving of the Song edition, it was mentioned again: '"Wen Xuan" still has the Ming Yuan Yu imitating Song Pei's edition, which can be used as Huben Zhonglang'. It means that this Ming Dynasty edition is only slightly smaller than the Song Dynasty original. Inferior."

"And most of the so-called Song engraved "Wen Xuan" recorded in "Tianlu Linlang Bibliography" are Yuan Yu's engraved editions with the inscriptions removed. The so-called "later book dealers often removed the inscriptions to serve as the Song Dynasty"."

"That's right." Professor Lu wished he had a magnifying glass in his hand now: "How can you be sure that the current volume of "Selected Works of Zhaoming" does not belong to this situation?"

Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "Because the Ming edition of "Selected Works of Zhaoming" has a very distinctive feature, and it is printed on white cotton paper."

"White cotton paper?"

"White cotton paper is made of mulberry bark and mulberry tree bark as the main raw materials, and some cotton fibers and silk fibers are added. The paper is white and soft, and it is flexible. Fanhaogui printed books in the Ming Dynasty often used this paper, and used it Good choice."

"So white cotton paper was an upstart among papers in the Ming Dynasty. Yuan's "Zhaoming Wenxuan" was printed on high-quality white cotton paper. The paper is flexible, and it is especially excellent in the books of the Ming Dynasty."

"Then... this isn't it?"

"The booklet you see now has almost all the features of Yuan's "Selected Works of Zhaoming", and it is even more precise in every way. The only thing that is not as good is that it uses bamboo paper. In the Song Dynasty, this kind of paper was called It is 'Jade Button'."

"In addition to the characteristics of bamboo paper, it has also been impregnated with pepper juice, which is also a common technique used by Song people. The paper is soaked with pepper juice to prevent moths. As the paper usually used in Song engraved editions, it is also called ' Pepper paper'."

"Therefore Zhang Yingwen, a bibliophile in the Ming Dynasty, said: "Book collectors are more expensive to engrave in Song Dynasty. The paper is clear and clean, and the ink color is pure, which is lovely." The ink is thin, and there is a fragrance of books when opening a book.’ Another Qing Dynasty bibliophile, Sun Congtian, said: ‘The engraved editions of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties have a light fragrance of ink, and the color of the paper is light, so the scroll is amazing.’”

"It is bright and clean, but it is the characteristic of jade button paper. Compared with the flexibility and fineness of cotton paper in Ming Dynasty, the difference is actually very big."

"In fact, one sentence can make it clearer, that is, Song paper is like silk, and Ming paper is like cloth."

After speaking, he took out another book from his collection and placed it next to "Selected Works of Zhaoming": "This "Ji Zhong Sanji" is the Ming edition. Professor, you can refer to the paper copy."

It is not easy to tell the difference just by talking about it, but when the two books are put together, the difference will come out.

The paper of "Selected Works of Zhaoming" is thinner, it can be seen that it has been dyed, and because of the age, there have been water stains caused by poor storage, but the paper is generally thinner, with a slight sense of transparency.

Compared with "Ji Zhong San Ji", it is obvious that it is flexible and dense, and the paper is the yellow color after natural oxidation, not dyed.

"It's different..." Professor Lu confirmed this after evaluation.

"In fact, there is another important piece of evidence." Zhou Zhi pointed to one of the many study seals on the title page: "This volume of "Selected Works of Zhaoming" is the first volume, so there are many collectors' study seals left, the most important of which is One of the originals, this one, is enough to show that it is not a Mingben."

"This? What palace of water?"

"Shuijinggong Taoist." Zhou Zhi took out another calligraphy booklet and opened it: "Look here, the two seals are exactly the same. This is Zhao Mengfu's seal, and Shuijinggong Taoist is his own name."

"Zhao Mengfu is a famous calligrapher, and descended from the Yuan Dynasty clan in the Southern Song Dynasty!" Professor Lu exclaimed: "This booklet has his seal, which is enough to show that this is the previous version of the Zhao family!"

After finishing speaking, I thought of a question: "Your booklet is also from Jiuyanqiao?!"

Zhou Zhi nodded with a smile: "These things, including the photocopies of the previous Republic of China edition series, were weighed together among a pile of old books in the library, and they cost three yuan a catty."

(End of this chapter)