What are the binding forms?

The publication of books in China has a long history, and the binding forms of books are constantly evolving with the development of book production technology and materials used.

It is generally believed that the earliest books in China are tortoise shells or animal bones engraved with words in Shang Dynasty, which has been more than 3,000 years. At that time, in order to facilitate the preservation, several pieces of Oracle Bone Inscriptions related to the content were connected in series with ropes, which was the binding form of early books.

From the late Shang Dynasty, bronze inscriptions appeared, and rulers cast important documents on bronze wares. Especially in the Western Zhou Dynasty, inscriptions can accommodate more characters. Mao's inscription in the Western Zhou Dynasty reached 500 words. Because people often regard this inscription on ancient bronzes as one of the ancient "original books", most book historians think it is also a form of ancient book binding.

2. Bamboo slips

Before the invention of paper, bamboo slips were the most representative form of books. According to the length of the article, it can arbitrarily determine the number of abbreviations, one short book and one line, and finally string them together with two ropes and wrap them up for preservation. There are also two kinds of reeds and silk, which are sewn into bags by tasters. Bamboo slips originated in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and continued to be used in the 4th century. Bamboo slips are not only made of bamboo, but also called wooden slips by people who use wood. Yuzhu bamboo slips

There are also wooden slips in parallel, which are made into rectangular pieces of wood and used to write short articles.

3. Silk script

Silk book is a kind of book form slightly later than bamboo slips. Written on silk fabrics, its binding form is to sew the edges and store them in rolls. Because the materials are expensive, they are mostly used by rulers to write official documents or draw pictures, and ordinary books are rarely used.

4. Stone Sutra (Stone Tablet)

The Book of Songs is also a form of ancient books. The most representative is the Stone Story of Xiping, which was carved in the fourth year of Xiping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 175). The seven Confucian classics were carved on 46 stone tablets, with a total word count of more than 200,000 words. It stands in front of Luoyang Imperial College for people to read, copy and correct, and its function exceeds that of ordinary books. Its shape is double-sided lettering, the vertical lines of characters are neat, and the plaques are arranged in a U shape. Others, such as the Buddhist scriptures of Yunju Temple in Fangshan, were carved in the Sui Dynasty, which was later than the stone carvings in Xiping, but it had great influence and high value.

5. rubbings (scrolls)

After the invention of paper, a form of rubbing appeared. You can copy all kinds of stone inscriptions on paper, and it is easy to save and read after being mounted into a roll. Later, this method was applied to bronze inscriptions and rubbings of Wen Tao. From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui Dynasty, various rubbings are an important category in court books.

Paper was invented in the second century BC; Since the second century, paper has been widely used for writing. In the second century, the use of paper became more common and became the main material of book carrier. Many changes have taken place in the binding form of paper books. The earliest books were written in the form of simple raiders and silk books, that is, scroll loading. In the early Tang Dynasty, another kind of whirlwind clothing appeared on the basis of scroll clothing. In the past, there were different views on the shape of cyclone clothing because there were only records that had not seen the real thing. In the Song Dynasty, Zhang Bangji called this kind of binding "flying page by page, spreading to the end, and still merging into a volume"; In the Qing Dynasty, Ye Dehui called it "the product of scales". Some people think that the warp folded clothes are connected end to end, which is the whirlwind clothes. Later, I found Tang Yun's manuscripts in the Tang Dynasty. The written pages were staggered from page to page and pasted on the bottom paper of the scroll. When I read it, I opened it and turned it page by page. After reading it, it is still rolled into a shaft, and its appearance is the same as that of a scroll, which proves that the first two statements are correct.

6. Admiration, whirlwind clothing, butterfly clothing (book binding in the early stage of printing and Liao and Jin Dynasties)

Origami originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Its shape is that the written pages are pasted together in sequence, folded one by one, and then sealed before and after.

Before the invention of printing, there were only the above forms of book binding. After the invention of printing, scroll packaging and warp folding packaging are still in use, but there are still new developments in the use of materials, the size of the format and the decoration technology. Moreover, with the development of printing technology, new book binding forms are constantly emerging, including butterfly binding, Bao Beizhuang binding, line binding and so on.

The invention of printing marks that the publication of books has entered a new era. Due to the change of production mode, books can be produced in large quantities quickly, so that more people have the opportunity to read; The increasing demand for books has promoted the prosperity and development of the publishing and printing industry. Publishers pay more and more attention to the binding form of books, which embodies the complete art of ancient book binding from the choice of layout, the size of the core, font lines, binding form and the materials used in the cover.

Printing was invented in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties. The earliest printed matter in existence is the Pure and Bright Dharani Sutra carved around 704 AD and the Diamond Sutra discovered in Dunhuang. In 868 AD, they were all scrolls. Therefore, reel binding is the most commonly used binding form in early printing. The earliest printed encyclopaedia is Tang Yun, and its binding form may be whirlwind, which was printed in the late Tang Dynasty.

From the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, printing was not popular. Only Xi 'an, Sichuan, Huainan, Bianjing and wuyue recorded printing. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the publishing and printing industry gradually became popular. Government printing, folk printing, school printing and temple printing all developed, and the area for printing books was wider. At the same time, the publishing and printing industry appeared in Beijing. In the past, most of the books printed in Beijing in Liao Dynasty were only records, but few were handed down in kind. For example, the Hand Mirror of Longdong compiled by Yanjing monks in the 15th and 15th years of Liaotong (AD 997), and the medical books Back in Time and Kloc-0/1~110, which were engraved in the years of Gantong. 1974, a batch of Liao dynasty prints were found on the chest of the Buddha statue on the fourth floor of the wooden pagoda in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province, most of which were carved by Beijing. Among them, the earliest date of engraving the book was the "Original Scripture" printed by Yang Jia in Yangshan Temple in Yanjing in eight years (AD 990), and the latest was Tianqing Year (AD 1 108). Other books include The Khitan Collection and 47 inscriptions and postscript books in Liao Dynasty, 8 inscriptions and postscript books in Liao Dynasty, and 6 painted Buddha statues, with the engraving date of 990 ~11. From these printed inscriptions, we also know a number of engraving units in Nanjing, Liaoning Province (now Beijing), including "Yangjia in front of Yangshan Temple in Yanjing", "Xianzhongfang in Tanzhou Street in Yanjing lives in Fengjia in the south cheek", "Fuhui married downstairs in Dawu Temple", "Zhongying Benjamin Loyalty Temple" and "Yanjing Shengshou Temple". It can be seen that the printing industry in Beijing in Liao Dynasty was very prosperous.

The earliest prints in the Northern Song Dynasty were Shangshu and Classic Interpretation in the fifth year of Kaibao (972 AD), while Kaibao was printed in the fourth noon of Kaibao from 97 1 AD to the eighth year of Taiping Xingguo (983 AD). The earliest printed books in Beijing were only 18 years later than the Northern Song Dynasty, which shows that Beijing has a very long history of publishing and printing.

Judging from these Liao Dynasty printed materials in Beijing, most of them are scroll binding, butterfly binding and folding binding. Some books are also dyed to prevent insects. Among them, The Collection of Qidan is the most representative Beijing print in Liao Dynasty, with exquisite paper and ink engraving and binding. Each volume has a map of the capital, which represents the fine tradition of attaching importance to illustrations in ancient books in China. Judging from the engraving and binding level of existing Liao books, it seems that the history of Beijing book publishing and printing should go further.

In Yingxian wooden pagoda, several carved Buddha statues were also found, which were printed with line outlines by engraving method and then painted with colors by hand. This is the earliest printed and painted wall chart found so far.

1 127 years, Jin destroyed Liao, with its capital in Yanjing (now Beijing), and became the political and cultural center of the north. In the first year of Zhenyuan (A.D. 1 153), the Jin government set up the secretary supervisor and imperial academy, which were specialized in the collection, publication and printing of books. After Jin Jun occupied Bianjing, a large number of books and printing plates there were transported to Beijing, and a group of Bianjing book engraving, printing and binding craftsmen also came to Beijing, further expanding Beijing's book engraving power. Due to the attention of the Jin government, the types of books published in Beijing greatly exceeded those in Liao Dynasty. According to statistics, there is a historical subset of books printed in Beijing in the Jin Dynasty. There are more than 200 kinds of medicine, Taoism and Buddhism.

Book binding in Beijing in the Jin Dynasty was similar to that in the Southern Song Dynasty. Scroll binding in Beijing printed materials is rarely used. Buddhist and Taoist books are mostly folded books, and most books are butterfly dresses.

Butterfly costume is a new book binding form after the invention of printing. It is inferred that Feng Dao organized sutras and used butterfly costumes in the Five Dynasties, but it has not been handed down in kind, which is still difficult to determine. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the printed classics and historical works were all butterfly dresses, which soon became popular all over the country. From the Liao Dynasty, Beijing also began to use butterfly costumes, and the technology was roughly the same as that of the Central Plains. The application of butterfly clothing is a major reform in book binding. It is the change of books from scrolls and warps to album pages that determines the basic binding form of books that continues to this day.