Mr. Du Weisheng is a research librarian of the National Library of China, a representative inheritor of national intangible heritage projects, and has been engaged in the restoration of ancient books in the National Library of China for more than 40 years. He is familiar with all kinds of binding forms of ancient books in China, not only mastering the repair techniques of various binding forms of ancient books in China and the mounting techniques of traditional calligraphy and painting in China, but also dealing with all kinds of difficult problems in the process of repairing ancient books. At the same time, he is familiar with the binding and repair techniques of modern hardcover books and paperback books, and also familiar with the binding and repair techniques of ancient hardcover books in Europe. The ancient books he repaired include hundreds of Dunhuang suicide notes from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the end of the Tang Dynasty, and thousands of rare ancient books such as Wenyuan Yinghua in the Song Dynasty, Yongle Dadian in the Ming Dynasty.
Recently, Du Weisheng was a guest at the 13th lecture of "History of Calligraphy and History of Books" in Peking University Institute of Literature and Art, with the theme of "Paper and Ancient Books in China", which brought us a new understanding of the whole civilization progress system in China with paper as the carrier from the perspective of materials and technological process. The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) arranged some lectures for readers.
Book carrier before the invention of paper
Du Weisheng starts with the book carrier before the invention of paper. At this stage, people mainly write on bamboo slips, wooden slips and silk books, and bamboo and silk books are the earliest known formal books in ancient China. Simplified books appeared in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. In the article Shangshu Doshi, the Duke of Zhou warned the adherents of Yin in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty: "Only you know, only your ancestors, there are books and codes." A "book" is a book made up of letters. Both Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wen have the word "book", which shows that there were already books compiled into volumes at that time.
There are two types of compilation of simplified books: first compilation and then writing, and first writing and then editing. Most of the simplified books compiled first and then written are official documents handed down by Confucian classics or classics. Books written first and then compiled are more common in bookkeeping documents. The differences in the use of bamboo slips and wooden slips are generally written on bamboo slips when there are many words, and on board slips if there are fewer words. In the Book of Rites, it is said: "More than 100 books are written in the strategy, not as good as 100 books." The so-called "strategy" and "square", as Zheng Xuan said in the Eastern Han Dynasty, "strategy is simple; Party, board also ". What we are talking about is the usage of bamboo slips and board slips, where more than 100 words are written on bamboo slips and less than 100 words are written on board slips. Now, the words "celebrity’s handwriting" and "letters" are all derived from this.
Silk book with column lines, from Hunan Provincial Museum.
Silk books appeared after bamboo and wooden slips, and some silk books were marked with column lines. The two thick lines on the upper and lower sides actually symbolized the string that connected bamboo slips. The thin ones below actually symbolize the gaps between bamboo slips. Now it’s called hangge. In fact, these lines are the legacy of bamboo slips.
The binding forms of Jane Eyre and Silk Book are: first, all the leaves of the book are connected into a long strip, and the thicker paper is directly rolled up like Jane Eyre, while the thinner paper is imitated by silk book with a small stick of important official, and then rolled up, which is called "rolling".
Bamboo tubes and lacquered wooden cases: Silk books can be rolled up with scrolls or folded and put in fittings. Common containers include bamboo barns (small boxes woven from bamboo strips) and lacquer wood boxes.
Taking Mawangdui silk as an example, Du Weisheng mentioned that many people attach importance to the writing of silk, but its binding form is actually more valuable. It was arranged leaf by leaf and put in a box. In fact, this form is no longer a package, which is the beginning of the leaf system of ancient books in China. Except that the leaves are not bound together, this book already has all the elements of a leaf book.
The invention of paper and the development of binding mode
"Paper is a flat and uniform sheet-like fiber product, and it is the carrier of writing and printing. ….. "When talking about the definition of modern paper, Du Weisheng pointed out that" plant fiber "had to be added to the definition in the early years, but with the spread of chemical fiber paper in the market, the definition of paper also changed. Therefore, paper is a material closely related to the times.
The invention of paper, traditionally speaking, Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty summarized the previous paper-making technology and improved it, and in the first year of Yuanxing (105) played its improved method. Emperor Jiashan’s ability, Cai Lun’s paper-making method was promoted. From the perspective of technical history, the invention of bamboo paper, that is, bamboo fiber (stalk) papermaking technology, is a milestone event in China’s papermaking history, which provides technical preparation for future generations to make paper from wood.
Cai Lun paper
As for the time when bamboo paper appeared, according to the existing materials, Du Wei pointed out that bamboo paper had not been seen in the Tang Dynasty. Yi Xiaohui, a librarian of the National Library, added that according to the literature, some people think that bamboo paper originated in Sui and Tang Dynasties. But why we can’t see the real thing of bamboo paper in modern times is actually related to the characteristics of bamboo paper raw materials, which have high lignin content and are not resistant to aging.
And why can bamboo paper, which is not very aging-resistant, be preserved after the Song Dynasty? Because there was an innovation in paper technology during this period. Before the Song Dynasty, bamboo was important for life, but it had not yet entered the cultural field. In the Song Dynasty, bamboo paper just caught up with the advent of printing, which required a lot of paper, and traditional leather paper could not meet this demand. The two technologies promote each other and promote the innovative technology of mass production and preservation of bamboo paper.
In addition, the quality, thickness and excellent production of paper directly affect the binding form and service life of books. Before the Song Dynasty, books were mostly written by hand, and the paper was generally thick, mostly between 0.8 and 0.13 mm. At this time, books were mostly rolled. In the Song Dynasty, printing flourished and book production reached an unprecedented peak. At this time, in order to reduce the production cost of books, the book paper is much thinner than that in the Tang Dynasty, generally 0.06-0.08 mm, and the thinnest paper has reached about 0.05 mm.
Because the leaves of the book are thin, if the book is still in the form of roll, it will be difficult to roll it up. In this way, the binding form of books has also changed, from roll to leaf butterfly. Later, in order to adapt to thinner book paper and speed up the binding of books, Bao Beizhuang, thread binding and other binding forms have gradually developed.
The connection between binding forms
The binding forms of ancient books in China mainly include simple strategy, scroll binding, folding binding, Van Gogh binding, butterfly binding, Bao Beizhuang binding, thread binding and so on. With the change of book-making materials and the development of book-making technology, book binding forms are constantly evolving, which is more conducive to people’s reading and book preservation and protection. When talking about silk fittings, Du Weisheng mentioned that every binding form of China’s books is related.
After the appearance of paper books, it inherited the binding form of simple strategies and silk books, which is called "rolling". Rolling is a common binding form in ancient books in China. At the end of the Song Dynasty, in order to protect books and increase their appreciation, there appeared a mounting form in which the four sides of rolled books were inlaid with silk fabrics such as twill and silk, stretched and calendered, and then added with heaven and earth poles. Mounted pieces that are horizontally displayed become "hand scrolls", and those that are vertically hung for appreciation are called "vertical shafts" or "hanging shafts". Until today, the binding of calligraphy and painting works in China generally still uses this form.
Scroll-mounted Tang Dynasty manuscript
Bookleaf book is the last stage of the development of book binding in ancient China, and it is also the best representative binding art among ancient books in China. The main feature of album books is that many single pages are assembled and bound into a book, which is also a completely different book form from the simple silk and scroll books that are spread and read. It is a revolution in the history of book binding in China.
Books with leaves mainly include Van Gogh’s clip-on, warp-folding, whirlwind or Long Lin’s, sewing, stitching and many other forms. This form of Sanskrit sandwich was first seen in the ancient Indian Buddhist classics written on Bedolo leaves in Sanskrit, and was mainly popular in the Central Plains of Sui and Tang Dynasties after it was introduced to China. The Van Gogh folder folds the scallops with written words in sequence, clamps them with a board from top to bottom, and pierces holes and ropes. In addition, the Van Gogh clip is not written, but engraved, engraved with a pen with a needle. After engraving, it is smeared with red oil or black oil and infiltrated from the place where the pen tip is cut, which becomes a scarlet letter or black word.
Bei Ye Jing in Dai Language (Fan Jia Zhuang)
The warp folding is developed under the influence of Van Gogh’s clip-on. The method is to stick the written and printed leaves together into a long strip, then fold them evenly according to the fixed specifications, and then stick a thick paper on the first and second leaves as the book cover. Because Buddhist and Taoist classics mostly adopt this binding form, it is called "folding". Folding is also a common binding form in ancient books in China, which can often be seen in ancient costume TV series.
Warp folding
In the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, there was also a popular binding form between scroll binding and leaf binding-"whirlwind binding". According to the literature records and the physical objects in the existing Dunhuang suicide note, the adhered leaves are repeatedly folded from the end of the book to the front of the book according to certain specifications, and the front of the book is slightly longer as the backing paper, and the left folding mouth is gathered and fixed, clamped with a stick, punched and threaded; Or a single book leaf written on both sides is collected in sequence, put on a piece of base paper, and the left side is directly bound with thread; The leaves of the book are arranged in an orderly way during exhibition and reading, and rolled up with the collected side as the axis during collection. Whirlwind has basically possessed some characteristics of book-leaf system. Books can be "leafed through" when they are being read, and they are "making a whirlwind leaf paper" when they are rolled up. It can be said that "whirlwind" is an improvement of rolled books.
Long Lin Zhuang
In the Tang Dynasty, "stitching and binding" was also popular for a short time. The appearance of "stitching and binding" is close to that of hardcover books now, and the biggest difference is the bare spine. When talking about the binding technology of "stitching" books, which pioneered modern hardcover books, Du Weisheng put forward a questioning conjecture against the statement that "hardcover books came from the west": in fact, western hardcover books were stitched from China, spread to Central Asia and then spread to Europe. The basis is that the binding mode of western books is from volume to hardcover, with a vacuum in the middle, while the binding mode of ancient books in China is consistent with each other.
Cover of "Eight Yang God Curse Sutra" (stitched and decorated)
The closest thing to the appearance of modern paperback books is "Bao Beizhuang", and the most typical book by Bao Beizhuang is "Si Ku Quan Shu". Bao Beizhuang’s way of folding leaves is the opposite of butterfly dress. Fold the page without words and the page with words outward, and then bind it. The appearance of paperback books is exactly the same as that of today’s paperback books. The difference between paperback books and ancient books on the back is that paperback books are printed on two sides of a book, while Bao Beizhuang ancient books are folded on two sides of a book. There is only one difference.
Sikuquanshu
The origin of thread packing is very early, which existed in the Tang and Five Dynasties. Du Weisheng mentioned that he saw the thread packing in the Dunhuang suicide note in France, and the method of setting the line was basically the same as today’s thread packing. At present, thread-bound books generally have four eyeliners, while the thread-bound book in Dunhuang suicide note has three eyeliners, so one eye is punched up and down, one eye is punched in the middle, and it is sewn with a single thread. Except for the number of thread-bound eyes, the others are exactly the same as the common thread-bound books.
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, in order to adapt to the frequent reading of books, thread binding became popular. Thread-bound is the same as the folding way of bag back. The spine of the book is exposed, nailed and threaded, and bound into a book. Thread-bound is the most common binding form of ancient books in China after the middle of Ming Dynasty. The significance of the appearance of thread-bound books to ancient books in China is: firstly, it simplifies the binding process, but improves the labor efficiency; Third, it provides technical conditions for large-scale production of books.
