Chapter 57 Similarities and Differences between Chinese and Western Tastes of Book Love

Similarities and Differences between Chinese and Western Tastes of Book Love Chinese bamboo and wood slips and Western clay and brick carvings are the original forms of books.These are books Books, but they have been included in the list of antique cultural relics, and bibliophiles seldom collect them as books.it's don Man-written scriptures, Dunhuang scrolls, picture scrolls from Egypt and Persia, and Bayeux scriptures from India, although these are also engraved editions The predecessor of books, but instead of collecting them as books, it is better to enjoy them as works of art, or as school

Reconnaissance certificate information is more appropriate. The life of the book is pinned on reading.The real object of love for books should be those who can read and read Play, books that have the requisites of a book; that is to say, the content of a book, printing, paper, Binding is worthy of liking in all aspects, or at least a little bit worthy of liking, which makes it a favorite collection of book lovers. Object. Chinese bibliophiles are particularly fond of Song version books, and Western bibliophiles are particularly precious about the early printed copies of the 15th century

Books, because these books, besides being antiquities, also have the Specialty, worthy of the treasure of book lovers. Although there are great differences in content and form between Chinese books and Western books, the interests of Chinese and Western calligraphers Taste trends, their collection scope, some places coincide, and the same goal by different routes, this is really a very strange Interesting phenomenon.Chinese bibliophiles can't bear to caress about a fine book of Song Dynasty with fine paper and ink and characters as big as money The fascination of letting go of the hand is just like a western bibliophile looking at Gothenburg's forty-two-line Bible, repeating it repeatedly.

Counting the lines, sniffing the ancient fragrance of parchment, nodding in admiration again and again.culture is not There are national boundaries, and it is no accident that Chinese and Western book lovers have the same interests. I have said again and again that it is not a luxury to be interested in books.book reader must It is a book lover, but a bibliophile with thousands of volumes may not necessarily be a scholar, let alone understand A book lover who loves books.Well, even if there is only one book, as long as we understand that having one The benefit and interest of books, our collection will never be poorer than others.

Let's take a look at the items that Chinese and Western book lovers like to collect, their names in editions, and And its characteristics and interests. 1. Chinese and Western ancient scriptures This is the product of the evolution of books from handwriting to engraving.Most bibliophiles pay attention, in China It is the manuscript of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties discovered in the Dunhuang Grottoes, and it is collected in the European medieval monasteries in the West. Collection of gold and green painted manuscripts.The manuscripts of the Tang Dynasty, generally known as Dunhuang scrolls, are mostly Buddhist scriptures.

This is really an interesting contrast with the fact that the illustrated manuscripts of the Western Middle Ages are also religious books. The layout of the scriptures written by people in the Tang Dynasty was mostly in the form of scrolls, and occasionally Buddha statues were painted on the title page at the beginning, but in the Western Middle Ages Ji's scriptures are in the style of books, and they are decorated extremely gorgeously.This thing is generally called "Illuminated Manuscript" to show that it is different from ordinary manuscripts.This noun can be translated as

It is called "Golden and Bicolored Ancient Manuscript", because except that this text is transcribed in red and black ink, the surrounding and The gaps in each sentence and line are filled with colorful decorative patterns, and the letter of the first word at the beginning must be filled with colorful decorative patterns. The fixed paintings are very large, sometimes occupying half or the entire page, and the letters are surrounded by multicolored paintings. In addition to pattern decoration and figures, birds, animals, insects and fish, the main places are painted with lacquer gold or pasted with gold leaf and silver.

Foil, very gorgeous and eye-catching, so it is called Jinbi painted manuscript.The space between the first letter and the Most of the gold and silver paintings painted are stories and characters related to this classic: often the Virgin Mary or the There are pictures of the shrines of martyrs, and sometimes portraits of patrons.Because the materials for such manuscripts are very expensive, Only the emperors and nobles at that time had the financial resources to make them.They have often had someone draw them for private worship. use, or donate to the monasteries they sponsor. The age of writing scriptures by Tang people and the age of Western painted manuscripts are very close to each other.

A product of the eighth to ninth centuries.However, in China, printed books were prevalent in the Song Dynasty, and manual The manuscripts took a back seat, and scripture writing became a special pious work.But in the West, the European Copies of this kind, painted in gold and green, were in vogue until the fifteenth century, and Gothenburg, for the first time, printed them in letterpress. Bibles are intended to be sold as cheap manuscripts.Therefore, he specially added hand-painted coloring pages to each book. The painting was used to imitate the gold and silver painted manuscript Bibles that were still popular at the time.

2. "Inconabra" We know that typography was invented in Europe in the 1550s, usually by German John Gothenburg of the United States is the inventor of typography in Europe, and the forty-two-line version of the Bible he typeset is Europe's first book printed with letterpress, this is the famous "Gottenburg Bible".from the fifteenth century From the 1950s to the end of the 15th century, it was the cradle of European printing. Books published during this time, Both belong to the early products of European letterpress printing. European book scholars gave a special term for the books published in this period: called

For "Inconabula" (incunabula).This is a Latin word that includes cradle and swaddling clothes. Because the 15th century was the cradle of printing in Europe, all Bibles published from Gothenburg Afterwards, until 1500, the typesetting books published were all from the cradle of letterpress printing. The babies born are all named "Inconabra". Of course, according to the original meaning of this word, if we find Bi Sheng's books printed with clay movable type, we will They can also be called China's "Inconabra".But generally speaking, the so-called Inconabras, It refers specifically to books printed in early European typography in the fifteenth century. Comparing Inconabra with today's books, its typographical technology is certainly not as sophisticated as modern technology. beauty; even if you compare Inconabra with gold and silver painted medieval scriptures, they are far inferior to ancient manuscripts The luxury and beauty of this book, but because it is a product of the cradle age of printing, has historical significance and interest. Therefore, it is a special favorite of bibliophiles. "Inconabra" is just like our Song blackboard script, which has been handed down to the present without loss. There are many, and because of the wars and disasters, it is becoming less and less day by day, so its market price is also surprisingly expensive. People are not something ordinary book lovers can collect with their financial resources.According to the statistics of German versionists, the current There are about 38,000 Inconabras recorded in public and private collections, many of which are orphans.No need to It is said that the most expensive ones are the Fort Gothenburg Bibles, which can be worth more than half a million dollars.And in fact, Most of these precious Inconabras have been collected by museums, university libraries and wealthy people in various countries. Yi will no longer appear in the ancient book market. 3. The Gothenburg Bible The Bible of Fort Gothenburg is the most precious book among ancient Western books.because of the handed down The few dozens of volumes have all been collected in public libraries and the private libraries of the rich. It is at least a task, if not impossible, to collect a copy of the Gothenburg Bible. A very labor-intensive and time-consuming matter.Therefore, ordinary bibliophiles and book lovers, if they have the opportunity, can go to London Feast your eyes on the British Museum in London or Morgan's Library in New York, USA, and take a look at this price The true face of the priceless ancient book, otherwise you can only temporarily satisfy your thirst from the reproduced printed matter up. There are still many disputes about this German printer in the fifteenth century and the Bible he printed. Disputes, especially between the Dutch and the Germans, over who was the inventor of European typography, Historians and versionists on both sides have spent a lot of ink.Any literature left over from the fifteenth century Contributions, no matter how small a piece of paper is, are regarded by them as materials for directly or indirectly researching this issue.about Typographic printing in Europe, first appeared in Holland or first appeared in Germany, the first to use typography Whether the printer of books is Johann Gothenburg of Germany or Kostor of Holland is a question. According to the evidence presented by both parties, it is true that the public is justified, and the mother-in-law is justified, and it is not enough to say in one or two sentences. It’s exhausting, and this issue has nothing to do with this article, we’ll put it aside for the time being, and leave it for future opportunities Besides.Especially for us Chinese, no matter whether European letterpress printing first appeared in the Netherlands, Whether it appeared in Germany, it must have been passed down from China indirectly or directly, but no one can overturned facts.Because long before typography appeared in Europe in the fifteenth century, in the middle of the eleventh century, There are already very reliable documents in China, which record that Bi Sheng invented the printing of books with clay movable type. However, before the dispute is settled, generally speaking, most people still admit that John Gordon Fort is the inventor of typography in Europe, and the Bible he typesetting with this method is the first in Europe to use letterpress. printed books. For the study of the biography of this printer, the works of German scholars can be said to be overwhelming. In fact, there are very few reliable biographical materials about him.We only know so far He was born about 1398 or 1400 and died about 1468, according to the author.the place of death is The city of Mainz, as to where in Germany it was born, is still under debate, probably also the city of Mainz. There are no documents directly related to his printing business, but he borrowed money from others. Known on the IOU.That's all we know about the details of life at Gothenburg.as for those Most of the voluminous books written about life in Gothenburg are side studies.some texts as evidence Contributions have even been proven to be forged by later generations.In order to strive for this glorious record in the history of European culture Although the Germans and the Dutch have been fighting endlessly, in Germany itself, for the sake of his birth birthplace, and the location of the printing office, the German historians themselves disputed among themselves, and some even He did not hesitate to use forged documents as evidence.In fact, even the portrait that I thought was a portrait of Gothenburg, There is also insufficient evidence to prove that it is a portrait of Gothenburg himself. Of the books believed to have been typed by Gothenburg in letterpress, there are three, one of minor importance The Prayer Book, and the other two are Bibles, with slightly different versions of the two.European edition specialists according to The two books are distinguished by the number of lines per page, one is called a thirty-six-line book and the other is called a forty-two-line book Book. These kinds of books are considered to be printed by Gothenburg, but in fact there is no direct documentary evidence, because the books The place of publication and the name of the person who printed it are not printed on the book, but only from the records of contemporaries and indirect It has been speculated in the literature that it may have been the work of Gothenburg. The difference between the so-called thirty-six-line version and the forty-two-line version is based on the number of lines per page.That In fact, although the frame of the forty-two-line version is of the same size, only four rows are arranged on each of the first nine sides. There are ten lines, the tenth side is forty-one lines, and the tenth side is forty-two lines.Fort Gothenburg Research Specialist I think this is the most suitable number of lines for the printer to test. After two corrections, I finally decide to use Forty-two lines.Although there are three types of lines, the size of the frame is always the same. Experts believe that this is exactly the style of Fort Gothenburg. Good evidence that he and his assistants were experimenting with movable type. As for the issue of which of these two editions comes first, according to those German edition experts who carefully read the text page by page and word for word As a result of collation and comparison, it is believed that the thirty-six-line version was printed later because it inherited the forty-two-line version in the All typographical errors are obviously based on this version. The 42-line version of the Gothenburg Bible is sometimes called the "Masanin Bible" because This version of the Bible was first accidentally discovered in the library of Bishop Massanin in Paris.from here Later, it became famous as the first book printed in typography in Europe. Forty-two-line version of the Gothenburg Bible, there are two kinds, one is printed on paper, the other is printed on calfskin of.In terms of printing technology, paper printing is much better than leather printing.The text is in Latin, the format It is a large folio book, with a total of more than 640 pages and more than 1,200 pages, most of which are bound into two volumes.root According to the handwriting of the people at that time left in the existing books, it was recorded on August 24, 1453 and 1456. The records in the present day all explain the process of purchasing this book, so it can be seen that its publication period must be close to this age. As for the total number of copies printed, the most authoritative opinion is that a total of 210 copies were printed. One hundred and eighty on paper, thirty on leather.However, some experts believe that only forty-five copies were printed. For the Forty-Two Verses of the Gothenburg Bible that survives to this day, the number of parts recorded by each school is also different.most authoritative The number is thirty-two, all complete.Including the remnants, there are forty-four volumes in paper volume, leather There are eighteen volumes in total.There are even fewer surviving thirty-six-line books, and it is said that there are only eight to twelve books.But because Because it is later in forty-two lines, its value is much lower. In the famous private library of Morgan, the rich man in the United States, there are two complete forty-two lines. One is paper, the other is leather.One part of the paper book is said to be the forty-two lines existing in the world One of the most beautiful of the books. This forty-two-line paper Gothenburg Bible, which is considered the most beautiful in Morgan's collection, was not included in Morgan's Before it was handed over, it was in the hands of Coleigh Hearst, a famous British antique book dealer. He sold it on February 2, 1886 Toka, on the title page of this book, wrote: "This is one of the finest Masanin Bibles that I or anyone has ever seen." Curry Teher is the leader of British ancient bookstores. He has been trading rare and rare books for generations. It is very famous in the market, and his descendants still continue the old business in London.He is so concerned with this bible Praise, its beauty can be seen. Forty-two copies of the Gothenburg Bible are collected by Americans, including two of Morgan's. There are nine parts.One at Yale University.One in the collection of Yale University was created in 1926 by a husband He bought it from the ancient market at a high price of 120,000 yuan, and donated it to Yale University in memory of his late husband. For such a famous rare book, there are certainly many book lovers who can't forget it.soon to A few days ago, a fragmented copy appeared in the market in London and was purchased by an ancient books dealer in New York.he wants to satisfy For the wish of many book lovers in Xiangyu, this fragmentary copy is specially disassembled and retailed, with one chapter or one page as the basis. The unit, with the appropriate cover or leather case, was sold out immediately, which shows that book lovers are very concerned about this How the first book in typography in Europe fell in love. It's a bit humorous to say that the forty-two lines of Gothenburg's book is respected by later generations as the ancestor of European letterpress printing. The Bible, which he had motivated in the typographical design in the first place, was deliberately sold as a manuscript copy.Therefore except In addition to the ink printing of this text, the first letter of each chapter has a space for printing in red ink or multicolored ink. Gold and silver to decorate.Therefore, some of the forty-two-line Bibles that have been passed down to the present have gold and silver paintings around each page. Its lace decoration, at first glance, may be mistaken for a medieval manuscript.