The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 56: Unwieldy movable type printing

Wang Jingui felt a sense of crisis instantly after seeing this convenient and fast wax paper mimeograph technology.

If this thing were completely popular, they wouldn't need their engraving craftsmen.

Still feeling lucky, he quickly asked: "Is this wax paper ink expensive?"

Wang Wenlong said: "The production cost of this wax paper is about the same as the wax paper used to package tea in ordinary wax shops. As for the ink, the formula is a bit more complicated, but the cost is not even as expensive as using pine smoke ink."

Wang Jingui and Deng Zhimo were shocked when they heard this.

The cost of making books was very high in this era. Engravers in Southern Zhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang charged three qian for every [-] characters. The wages here in Fujian were lower, but they still cost about [-] qian for every [-] words.

And such a stereotype can only be reprinted two thousand times. If we want to achieve the printing volume of Shuangfengtang's one edition of [-] times, the wood used for the stereotype must be better, and the cost of finer engraving will also increase.

But according to what Wang Wenlong said, the engraving and printing costs of the mimeograph technology he developed are so low that they are almost negligible. This advantage is huge.

Although the printing quality of wax paper mimeograph is not as good as that of fine block printing, it is still legible and even better than the roughest masha engraving printing quality.

Even those poorly printed mosaic books can be sold, and there must be a considerable market for wax paper mimeographed books with better printing quality.

As a scholar familiar with the printing industry, Deng Zhimo immediately thought of the value behind this technology.

He hurriedly asked Wang Wenlong: "Is this technology still in your hands now?"

Wang Wenlong smiled and said to the two of them: "The formulas of wax paper and ink are all in my hands. Now I am just using this method to help Lord Fantai in emergency situations."

When the two heard this, they immediately understood that Wang Wenlong had not handed over his skills to Xu Xueju.

After making his first pot of gold by writing books, Wang Wenlong was surprised by the profits of books in this era. With so many books in his mind, and mastering the printing technology that was ahead of the times, Wang Wenlong certainly had already planned to enter the printing industry. idea.

Wang Jingui was secretly glad.

Fortunately, Wang Wenlong hasn't pushed the technology away yet. If this technology is promoted, engravers like them will probably be out of work in the future.

Seeing that his uncle's expression was wrong, Wang Wenlong said: "The printing quality of this technology is still too poor. A slightly more exquisite book cannot do anything, and it cannot replace stereotyped printing at all."

Wang Jingui nodded, but his expression was still lonely, and he obviously didn't feel much comfort.

He felt extremely nervous about wax paper mimeographs, but he didn't know that in Wang Wenlong's opinion, this thing was only entry-level.

There are so many directions that can be upgraded after clicking on the mimeograph skill: lithographic printing, copper plate printing, type paper mold printing... Traditional woodblock printing has no possibility of competition in the face of these technologies.

Wang Wenlong remembers that after Western printing entered China in the late Qing Dynasty, it was widely spread within a dozen years and became one of the most widely spread Western technology categories in the late Qing Dynasty. Its spread was even faster than the speed at which foreign guns and cannons replaced local guns.Western-style mimeograph shops became the mainstream in the streets and alleys, and the traditional lettering industry declined even before the Republic of China.

After mimeographing really develops, any route will have crushing advantages over technologies such as stereotype printing and wood movable type.

But Wang Jingui doesn’t have to worry too much, because type templates will have to be carved by hand for at least some time after the mimeograph era.

Wang Wenlong picked up a printed product, pointed to the potato plant pattern on it and said:

"As long as the pattern can be carved on wax paper with a stylus, it can be printed. Printing and engraving on wax paper is as convenient as engraving. The problem now is that the wax template is damaged too quickly, and the speed of stereotypes cannot keep up." Wang Wenlong made it himself The quality of the wax paper produced is quite average. If it is reused fifty or sixty times, it will be torn by the ink and can only be re-engraved.

Engraving wax paper is a meticulous job. Once you make a typo or accidentally cut the entire manuscript, you have to start over.

In the past few days, five or six book offices under Xu Xueju, including Wang Wenlong himself, have been helping Wang Wenlong with this matter, and they can't handle it at all.

Thousands of promotional materials will be produced within a few days, and Wang Wenlong urgently needs the help of Wang Jingui and Deng Zhimo.

Wang Jingui touched the back of his head and said, "But, what can I do?"

Although he admired wax paper printing, Wang Jingui was illiterate. He really didn't know what Wang Wenlong wanted to do when he came to him, and he was somewhat resistant to wax paper printing that would take away his job.

Wang Wenlong picked up a wooden movable type on the table next to him: "Uncle, take a look at this first."

Wang Jingui frowned: "Moveable type? This thing is of no use..."

Wang Jingui took the wooden movable type from Wang Wenlong. At first, he didn't think this thing had any benefits, and even looked down upon it.

Although various articles from later generations claimed that the invention of movable type printing was of epoch-making significance, this thing was really not mainstream these days.

The main reason is that this primitive movable type printing is really not suitable for Chinese characters.

Pinyin text only consists of a few letters, which can be printed directly after casting a few sets of repeated movable type for typesetting. However, the number of Chinese characters is too many. A book often contains more than 20 to [-] words, and it is impossible to directly typeset it with movable type.

If you want to use movable type to print books in this era, you can only print out a few pages of stereotypes, complete the printing of these pages, then remove the printing plate, and then use movable type to type the content of the next page.

The result is that the printing cycle is extremely long. Works that could be completed in a few months using woodblock printing would take a year to be completed using movable type printing.

Moreover, the quality of movable type printing is still poor. Whether wooden movable type or copper movable type, there will always be unevenness, resulting in some printed books being dark and some being light.

In addition, the commonly used wooden movable type will wear out within a few years. If it is used frequently, it will be necessary to find a craftsman to re-engrav the movable type after a while.

This process is much more troublesome than using stereotypes. The only advantage of printing with movable type is that it can save the engraver money. However, because the movable type is often worn out, it must be replaced. Every time the type is replaced, it must be carefully trimmed to make it consistent with the original type. It's the same price, it's time-consuming, labor-intensive and material-intensive, and the money you can save is really limited.

Therefore, although the use of movable type printing has been promoted among the people in the Ming Dynasty, movable type printing in this era was generally used in government offices to print temporary emergency documents or to help people print genealogies and other things.

There are not many copies of these things printed, so it is not cost-effective to create a special set of stereotypes. Printing with movable type can solve the problem. Other than that, serious book engraving workshops have always looked down upon this stuff.

Wang Jingui, a highly skilled engraver, is naturally not interested in wooden movable type. In his opinion, wooden movable type is an awkward tool that sounds great, but often stretches the crotch when used. .

Someone in Jianyang had already experimented with wooden movable type printing, and even modified copper movable type, but the effect was still very poor, and the experimenters lost a lot of money.

Seeing Wang Jingui also showing disdain, Wang Wenlong smiled and said, "Uncle, please take a closer look."

Upon hearing this, Wang Jingui picked up the wooden movable type and looked at it carefully. It wasn't until he touched the engraved mark that he suddenly said "Huh?" and said strangely: "This movable type is very useful with a knife."

(End of this chapter)