Ming dynasty bookstore

Pan-stone man

Zou Xuesheng /view/340742.htm

Bao Si Fang is a wonderful flower in the cultural history of western Fujian and even Fujian. Together with Beijing, Wuhan and Xuwan, Jiangxi, it is also called the four major printing bases in ancient China.

The lettering of Bao Si Square began with Zou Xuesheng (word qingquan, 1523— 1598). In the eighth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (1580), Zou Xuesheng resigned from the magistrate in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province and returned to Wuting. He brought back engraving printing in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and opened a bookstore to "engrave classics, engrave history and benefit future generations". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zou Baochu, the same ancestor of Zou, said, "Doing business in Xingning County, Guangdong Province is quite profitable. He married and had children, and because he lived in his place, he published and sold scriptures. Arrived in the second year of Kangxi, Fang moved back, bought a house and a field, raised a nephew, and still worked hard. Mingting Bao Si Bookstore was founded by a real office.

After nearly a hundred years' development from Wanli in Ming Dynasty to Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, the sculpture of Bao Si Square gradually reached the peak of dryness, elegance and Taoism. According to the "Zou Family Tree", "When my hometown was in Ganjia, the book industry was very prosperous, and the rich were tired. After Xian Tong, it never recovered. People who start businesses occasionally win by saving money, but not as good as their predecessors. " In the historical development of 120 years, Bao Si Fang has created the brilliance in the history of block printing in China.

The rise and development of Bao Si Fang has its special geographical and humanistic historical factors. There are abundant jujube, catalpa, pear and camphor trees around Bosfo Pavilion and Horse House, and the paper and cigarette ink needed for carving can be obtained nearby. At the same time, Bao Si is also a famous cultural town in history, with a large number of literati and talented people: the official residence of the Song Dynasty, knowing the affairs of the Privy Council, participating in and discussing state affairs; In the Ming Dynasty, Ma Su went to Douchayuan and left Dou Shi. Zou Shengmai, a famous scholar and calligrapher in the early Qing Dynasty, supplemented The Story of Qionglin's Childhood Learning, Selected Poems of Aoshanju, Calligraphy and Painting as Treasures, Other People's Daily Use and so on. There were 167 Liancheng academies in Song Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, almost every township had private schools. There are more than a dozen large villages with a large population, and there are also one or two remote villages. Developed and enlightened education has trained a large number of talents. According to the Records of Liancheng County, from the founding of Liancheng County to the Revolution of 1911, there were 29 Jinshi who achieved fame through the imperial examination, and there were 263 juries. All these provide a good cultural environment and technical preparation for the rise and development of Bao Si Fang.

Due to the lack of manpower, capital and technology, Bao Si can start from a small scale, and the "printing science" engaged in printing is small in scale, which is a typical family lettering and family management. From layout design, manuscript textual research, proofreading and checking, creating blank sections, engraving and printing to paper cutting, ink mixing, printing, folding, pagination, binding, book pressing, light cutting, label sealing, packaging and binding, etc., there are more than 20 processes, until the final shipment, distribution and contact, which has formed a family-style cooperative management. At that time, there were mainly two families engaged in block printing: Zou and Ma. There are many bookstores in Bao Si, and 123 Tang Bo (seal script rooms) have been established successively, including 32 Zou in Fanyang, 42 Zou in Minting Dragon Township and 38 Ma Xian in Changting Bao Si. From time to time, there is the owner's surname of 1 1. Among them, there are more than 30 famous houses, such as Biqing Hall, Wenhai Building, Wenxiang Building, Hanbao Building, Wu Jingtang, Lin Lantiang and Yijing Hall.

According to the statistics of genealogy, account books and existing book tickets, there are 667 kinds of Bao Si's engraved books recorded in kind or in literature, with a total of * * * * 489 kinds, including Confucian classics such as Sikuquanshu and Notes to Four Books 105 kinds. There are 58 kinds of medicines such as Qianjin Fang Yi; 65 kinds of daily necessities such as "People's Daily Use" and "Disciples Rules"; There are 80 kinds of literature such as Wen Xin Diao Long and Chu Ci. Literati Poetry, Song Ci and Yuan Qu Novels 5 1 species. 42 kinds of geography, divination and star counting; There are 4 1 kind of enlightenment books, which can be described as varied and varied. Naturally, its readers are also extremely diverse, including scholars, collectors, children, and people engaged in medicine, feng shui and other industries. This makes there is a great market for engraving books in Bao Si, and the demand will not be interrupted. In its heyday, Bao Si carved a book, "Brush it and sell it for a few days."

Carved in Bao Si Square, the paper is of good quality, exquisite and elegant; Fonts are mostly Song style, with neat strokes and delicate fonts: careful proofreading and few mistakes. And the number of pages is very high, which is convenient for readers to annotate. Therefore, the reputation is extremely high and the sales volume is extremely high. Monopoly Jiangnan, marketing the whole country. Among them, many famous works in the history of printing were produced here, such as Zu Shutang's Tibetan edition, Wu Bentang's "Bao Chi Zhi Nan Che", which was reprinted by Fujian People's Publishing House 1992. "Taiwan Province province records, five tigers make a scene in Nanjing" has also become the basis of Shanghai typesetting. At that time, merchants in Xuwan, Jiangxi, specially sent people to buy transshipment because of the exquisite carving of the four castles, so that the legend of "Guandi Dam" is still circulating in Liancheng Four Castles.

Bao Si lettering marketing lines extend in all directions, covering more than 50 cities in the south of the Yangtze River at that time through three routes: the northern line, the southern line and the western line. There were four bookstores in the provinces south of Changting at that time. Thus, there was the heyday of Bao Si seal cutting, which was "sold after a few days".

After the glory of 120 years, Bao Si began to decline in the period of Xiandao and Taoism. 1860, Shi Dakai fought fiercely with the local Qing army and landlords in Tingzhou, Liancheng and other places, destroying a large number of printing study in Bao Si. The fatal blow comes from the rapid development of modern publishing institutions. With the emergence of lithography and lead printing technology, modern publishing institutions such as Shanghai Dianshizhai, Guangxi Baishishan Bookstore and Guangdong Wentong Bookstore began to rise. The engraving quality and efficiency produced by modern printing technology make traditional engraving technology far behind. Bao Si's engraving market is gradually shrinking. 1906 the abolition of the imperial examination system also made a large number of carved books on the main aspects of the four castles, such as the four books and the five classics, go unnoticed. Since then, the lettering of Sibaofang has been devastated and gradually declined, ending the glory of one of the four lettering printing bases.