Chapter 21 Section 4 Book Circulation in the Song and Yuan Dynasties

During the Northern Song Dynasty, state and private collections were mostly open to readers.The collection of books in the imperial palace is open to the royal family, and the collection of government books is open to officials.During the imperial examination, Jixian Library is responsible for providing books.As for the children of ministers and officials who need to consult books and materials in the government library due to work, it is already common. "Song History Shen Kuo Biography" records that when Shen Kuo negotiated with Xiao Xi of the Liao State on the ownership of Huangsou Mountain (now Hunyuan County, Shanxi), he went to consult many books and archives. bend".In order to cope with borrowing, Guange Books, like some large libraries now, has a lending stack, and books in other stacks are not allowed to be borrowed. Volume 3 of "Records of Zhongxing Allusions" records that the person responsible for borrowing books is called "Kuzi", and the procedures for borrowing books are "lists", which are released after inspection at the "Jianmen". The second volume of "Tianlu Linlang Houbian" contains a record on the back of the end of the Song edition "Day Cuiyan": "Guozijian Chongwenge official books must be cherished for borrowing and reading. Damaged or missing, the owner of the book is not allowed to accept it." By It can be seen that the books in Chongwen Pavilion of Guozijian can be borrowed.

Since the national collection of books can be borrowed, the copying of official books will inevitably occur, which makes the circulation of books more extensive, and people can pass them on through private loans, opening up circulation channels.However, the library collection was also seriously lost.Therefore, Shen Kuo said in "Mengxi Bi Tan": "Most official books are stolen by people, and scholar-bureaucrats often get them." As for the circulation of books by private bibliophiles in the Song Dynasty, it was commonplace. The books in the collection of the secretary prison in the Yuan Dynasty can be read by ministers and subordinates.In the Yuan Dynasty, every summer, the emperor would go to Liaoshangjing (now the south of Bahrain Zuoqi, Inner Mongolia) to escape the summer heat. The prime minister led all the officials to accompany him, and the secretary supervisor also brought a batch of books with him for reading.Private collections in the Yuan Dynasty were also available for borrowing.