Chapter 11 Section 3 Movable Type Printing in the Ming Dynasty

In the printing of movable type in the Ming Dynasty, in addition to using wooden movable type, copper movable type and lead movable type were invented. In the Ming Dynasty, no books were printed with movable clay type, and only a few literati used pottery or magnetic seals. For example, the yellow clay seal used by Hai Rui was burned with fire, and the seal was "official in charge of weathering". Wooden movable type printing was more common in the Ming Dynasty than in the Yuan Dynasty.Not only popular in southern Anhui and eastern Zhejiang, but also popular in Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Sichuan, Yunnan and other places.Those who are engaged in printing books with wooden movable type include feudal lords entrusted to other places, such as Shu Fan who was enfeoffed in Chengdu. In 1541, he printed the collection of poems and essays "Luancheng Collection" by Su Shi, a scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty; In 1547, Yifan of Xichang, Sichuan, engraved the superstition-breaking book "Bianhuobian" written by the Yuan Dynasty and "Bianhuo Supplement" written by the Ming Dynasty.In addition, there are academies, private houses and bookstores in various places.There are more than 100 kinds of wooden movable type printed books with testable titles, among which the Wanli period (1573-1619 A.D.) printed the most.Most of its content is a collection of famous poems and essays, as well as history books, literary theories, novels, art, military and scientific works, etc. Among them, the famous work "鹖〔he荷〕Guanzi" by the people of the Warring States period was very popular with Emperor Qianlong. appreciation.At the same time, some places in the south also began to use wooden typesetting to print family trees.From 1638 onwards, the official gazette of the Ming government "Di Bao" issued in Beijing was also typesetting with wooden movable type.Gu Yanwu (named Tinglin), a scholar in the early Qing Dynasty, said in his "Tinglin Collected Works": "Recalling the old Dibao, it was not until the eleventh year of Chongzhen that there was a movable version." Printing Dibao with movable type is a great progress in the history of journalism. . Most of the "Di Bao" published official government documents and government news, and it was forbidden to disclose those related to border defense secrets.Chen Xinjia, Shangshu of the Ministry of War in Chongzhen, was executed because he leaked the news in the "Di Bao" that he had been sent as an envoy to secretly seek peace with the Qing side.Because "Di Bao" also published some anecdotes and strange things, it was very popular among people in the ruling and opposition circles.At that time, Beijing also had its own private newspapers approved by the government. The newspapers it issued were generally called "Beijing News" (sometimes also mixed with "Di Bao" or "Di Chao"), and the content contained in it was similar to that of the official "Di Bao". "The difference is not big, it can be sold openly and accept subscribers. The "Beijing News" was originally copied, and later also had movable type printing.

Following the invention of tin movable type and wooden movable type in the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty invented copper movable type. There are different opinions about when my country had copper movable type.It is said that it began in the Five Dynasties: According to Yang Shouchen, a Jinshi in the Jingtai period of the Ming Dynasty (1450-1456 A.D.), he said in "Zhu's Classics and Meanings": "Jin Tianfu (936-943 A.D.) has a copper version of the Nine Classics. All can be copied and printed on paper and ink, and there is no need to write with a pen." I think the "copperplate Nine Classics" here does not refer to engraving the "Nine Classics" with more than 400,000 characters on one or several large copper plates, because it is difficult to complete such a huge project. It was impossible, so I thought it was a copper movable type.Some also say that it began in the Song Dynasty. According to Sun Congtian in the Qing Dynasty, he said: "There are copper engraved editions and movable type books in the Song Dynasty", and it is believed that there were copper movable type in the Song Dynasty.Others say that it began in the Yuan Dynasty: According to the sentence in "Monk Zhiyan's Tower Inscription" written by Huang Mo, a person from the Yuan Dynasty, "At the age of three, he will carve out copper as a board to pass on", and think that the Yuan Dynasty already had copper movable type.In fact, these statements lack strong data and physical evidence to prove them. They are just conjectures and cannot be relied upon.

According to completely credible information, it was only in the middle of the Ming Dynasty that my country really used copper movable type printing.During the years of Hongzhi and Zhengde (1488-1521 A.D.), there were many bookstores in Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Nanjing in Jiangsu that made books printed with movable copper type. Among them, Huajia and Anjia in Wuxi were the most famous. The number of books printed with copper movable type is the largest, and some printed copies have been handed down. Hua Sui is the most famous of the Hua family. He thought that he could understand the copper movable type, so he named his room "Huitongguan". ".Around 1490, he tried to print the version of "Song Zhuchen Zouyi" (Fig. 18) in two fonts for the first time.This printing, due to lack of experience, the metal itself does not eat ink, and the ink color is blurred; in addition, the typesetting is uneven, the text and small notes are regardless of size, the proofreading is not perfect, and there are many misspelled words, so it is far worse than It is not as exquisite as Korean copper movable type, but it is the earliest metal movable type printed in our country, so it is especially cherished by people.Later, he printed the Southern Song Dynasty book "Splendid Ten Thousand Flowers Valley" and the series "Baichuan Xuehai" about Tang and Song people's unofficial history, as well as his own works.There are as many as 18 kinds of books that can be tested before and after the printing, about more than a thousand volumes. In terms of their quantity, they are second to none among the copper movable type printing books of the Ming Dynasty.

Later, Hua Jue [Cheng Cheng] of the Hua family also made precise copper movable type.He worked as a petty official and was good at identifying ancient artifacts and famous calligraphy paintings. He especially liked to collect ancient books. He called his study "Shang Gu Zhai".In the fifteenth year of Hongzhi (AD 1502), he printed "Weinan Anthology" and "Jiannan Supplement" poetry collections by the patriotic poet Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty. The quality of the printed copies surpassed Huasui's copperplate. Later, Hua Jian, the nephew of Hua Sui, and Hua Jing, the son of Hua Jian, also enthusiastically engaged in copper movable type printing.The book printed by Hua Jian was named "Lan Xue Tang", and successively printed "Cai Zhonglang Collection" by the famous writer Cai Yong of the Han Dynasty (Cai Yong official to Zuo Zhonglang general, commonly known as Cai Zhonglang), and the famous poet Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty. "Bai Shi Anthology" and Yuan Zhen's poems and essays "Yuan Shi Changqing Anthology" were printed in 1515 as a 100-volume Tang Dynasty book "Yi Wen Lei Ju", which is a compilation of selected ancient books. , as many as 1,400 kinds of ancient classics were cited, which can be called the crown of books in the Tang Dynasty.Almost all the ancient books quoted in it are lost today, so this book preserves a lot of precious materials.Later, Dong Zhongshu, a master of Confucianism in the Han Dynasty, published the Confucian classics and philosophy works "Spring and Autumn Fanlu".These books are all well-known editions of Lan Xuetang typesetting with copper movable type. The Lan Xuetang printed version is called "Lan Xuetang double edition" because it typesets two lines in each straight line.

In short, in the nearly 30 years from 1490 to 1516, the Hua family used copper movable type to typesetting about 24 kinds of books, more than 1,500 volumes. These books are rare and cherished by bibliophiles. At that time, Anguo from Wuxi was as famous as the Hua family. He was a big landlord and businessman who was "almost as rich as the enemy", known as "An Million".He is relatively open-minded, and has done a lot of public welfare undertakings for the local area.According to "Changzhou Fuzhi": Anguo "supported the clan party, benefited the township, even Pinghai Island (donated to help fight the Japanese pirates), and dredged the Baimao River. Five thousand people will be buried when his father dies." It can be seen that he is a very good person. A person who is rich and enthusiastic about public welfare, and is deeply supported by the people.At the same time, he also likes ancient books and paintings, making characters and printing books.The book he printed is called "An Guo Movable Type Copperplate", and because his family grows a large number of osmanthus, it is also called "Osmanthus Pavilion".From 1521 to 1534, he printed at least 10 kinds of works, including local chronicles, general records of water conservancy, anthology and two kinds of major books, all of which are famous for their exquisite printing and rigorous collation.Some books are also printed with the number of "Thousand Characters" outside the sidebar, and the order is very clear. The binding work is very careful and meticulous, which is rare in ancient Chinese books.His first published "Dongguang County Chronicle" is the only local chronicle printed with copper movable type in my country, but it has long been lost.It's a pity that Anguo's copper movable type was divided up by his six sons after his death, and each person's income was incomplete and became useless waste.

In the Ming Dynasty, besides the two above-mentioned two books, there is also the Zhang family in Nanjing, which engraved the notebook novel "Kaiyuan Tianbao Remains" written by Wang Renyu in the Five Dynasties. There are also printed copies handed down.The Jinlan Pavilion in Suzhou (I don’t know whose family name it is) is engraved with "Shihu Jushi Collection" by Southern Song Dynasty poet Fan Chengda (named Shihu Jushi) and "Xi'an Collection" by early Ming poet Sun Fen (fenfen) On each page of the second book, there is a line of "Hongzhi Guihai (AD 1503) Jinlan Guan engraved" printed on the center of each page.The fonts of these books are beautiful, the strokes are tall and straight, the layout is sparse, and the printing is excellent. The font style of the books printed by Hua and An is very different, and there are printed copies handed down today.Located in Qingyuan County, which is quite remote in the south of Zhejiang Province, Han Xifang, the county school teacher, also printed "Zhuge Kongming's Heart Book", which is now in the Shanghai Library.The book "Mozi" printed in Zhicheng (another name of Jianning) in Fujian in 1552 is a blue print, which is extremely exquisite and is especially valued by bibliophiles.One year before the publication of "Mozi", Zhicheng also printed a superstitious book "Tongshuleijukeze Daquan", which recorded Jufan's wedding and funeral, appointment as an official, enrolling in school to seek a teacher, and baptism. Bathing the head, and even piercing the ears of women have to choose the day in order to choose good luck, avoid bad luck, and seek peace.The font format of this book is roughly the same as that of "Mozi".Probably in the southern part of Jiangsu Province, a large number of poetry collections of the Tang Dynasty were also printed with copper movable type, such as "Tang Xuanzong Emperor Collection", "Xu Jingzong Collection", "Luo Binwang Collection" and so on, a total of about 50 kinds. Similarly, the paper has two kinds of yellow and white, both of which are rare books of the Ming Dynasty.

Looking at the books printed with movable copper type in the Ming Dynasty, there are more than 60 kinds of books that can be tested, and Huajia in Wuxi is the most.As the first person to print books with movable copper type, Hua Sui was a very creative person. He solved a series of technical problems such as engraving, typesetting, ink application and printing of copper movable type. development has contributed.Some people say that he achieved the above achievements only under the influence of Korean copper movable type, but there is still no concrete evidence for this statement. As for the invention of movable lead type in the Ming Dynasty, historical records are very brief. At the beginning of the 16th century, Lu Shen said in his "Jintai Jiwen": Recently, people in Changzhou use copper and lead to make movable type, which is much more convenient and ingenious than woodblock printing.However, mistakes are prone to occur during typesetting, so it is better to copy by hand, so this method is not advisable.Of course, this evaluation of lead type is unfair.There is no record of what books were printed with movable lead type at that time, and no printed copies have been handed down. However, it is a fact that movable lead type was invented in the Ming Dynasty, but it was not widely used.

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