Traditional conservation methods for ancient books

From simple silk, literature has suffered greatly from moths, to the emergence of paper books, the problem is even more serious. Therefore, the ancients in the production process of literature carrier, in addition to pay attention to the carrier durability, but also use a variety of methods to avoid the literature suffered from moths.

Today, we first come to understand one of the earliest emergence of China to avoid moth-eaten paper.

This is a kind of paper processed with Phellodendron Bark juice, also called "decorative paper". Phellodendron Bark, also known as Phellodendron Bark, mainly produced in sichuan, belongs to the rue family deciduous trees, bark contains small Phellodendron Bark alkaloids and a small amount of alkaloids and some of the nitrogen-free crystalline substances, traditional Chinese medicine is classified as clearing heat and diarrhea class of drugs. In our ancient times, Phellodendron Bark juice is widely used as yellow dye, or a good insecticide.

As early as the Han Dynasty, people knew that Phellodendron Bark was used to dye paper. 2 century, Liu Xi in the "interpretation of the name" in the interpretation of the word "decorative", that is, for the meaning of dyeing paper. It can be seen that before that, people knew that Phellodendron Bark juice was used to dye paper. East Han alchemist Wei Boyang in the "Zhouyi Sen Tongqi" also contains: "If the dye is yellow, like blue into green." Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty also mentioned the use of Phellodendron Bark juice to dye paper in "Hug Park Zi", and also successfully experimented with this juice to dye hemp paper, which was soon popularized. Western Jin Lu Yun's "Lu Shilongji" Volume 8 "and brother plain book" contains Lu Yun said to his brother: "before the collection of brother's text for twelve volumes, the appropriate end of the eleven when decorated." This means that the paper used for writing articles should be dyed and decorated to prevent insect infestation. With Lu's contemporaries, Xun Castor in the "on the Mu Tianzi book preface" also said: "I would like to use two feet of yellow paper to write on." The term "yellow paper" here also refers to dyed paper. According to the Song Mi Fu "History of Calligraphy", Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi writing paper, are basically after the decorative hemp paper.

In the Wei, Jin and North and South Dynasties, the religious use of paper is huge, especially when copying Buddhist scriptures, Taoist scriptures commonly used yellow paper. Stein in Dunhuang in the Northern Wei Dynasty Yanchang four years ( 515 years ) writing sutra " Shengmanshing sparse " is to use yellow paper. In fact, a large number of sutras excavated in the Dunhuang caves were written by the Tang dynasty and are intact, one of the reasons why most of them were written on yellow paper.

At that time, people into the decorative dyeing paper has been perfected. So, the ancient paper dyeing and decorating practices in the end how? Northern Wei JiaSiFo "QiMinYaoJu" this has a very scientific description: "Where hit paper want to be born, born of the firm thick, especially suitable for decorating. Where decorative paper extinguishing white is, should not be too deep, deep is dark color over the years. Into the dip Phellodendron Bark cooked, that is, discard the dregs, straight with pure juice, fee and no benefit. Phellodendron Bark is cooked, then the dregs are mashed and boiled, and the cloth bag is pressed, then mashed and boiled again. Where three pounded three boiled, add and pure juice, its four times the savings, and the 弥 bright and clean. Write a book, through the summer and then into the decorative, sewing does not bloom. Its new writers, must be ironed and decorating with iron sewing iron, not, into is zero fall."

Sui-Tang period, dyeing yellow technology is more widely used, more mature. The six canons of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Li Shiming in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan (649 years) in the Hongwen Hall set up a "cooked paper decorator nine"; Secretary of the province of the "cooked paper maker, decorator of ten people". It also stipulates that some official documents, religious classics should use yellow paper. The four recipes of the literary house" said: "zhen guan in the beginning of the yellow paper to write the imperial edicts. The high emperor on the first two years of the edict said: 'the imperial edicts, both for the eternal style, this with white paper, more worms and moths. It is appropriate to make the future Shangshu Province issued by the states and appropriate to use yellow paper.'" Visible, the Tang Dynasty dyed paper into the decoration has long been all over the country, the government also developed a relevant system. Visible, both civil and government, are very important to book protection.

Ming Dynasty Gao Lian "Zunsheng eight paper" also describes the method of describing the dyeing of decorative: "cedar a catty pounded, four pounds of water to dip a volt, decoction to two liters stop. Listen to a liter of acorns, like the above method of decocting water. Listen to the use of cochineal five money, the deeper side of the wonderful, with four bowls of soup, soaked and squeezed out of the red. Each of the three flavors into a thick juice, with a large pot to hold the juice. Every Guanyin curtain firm thick paper, first dragged with cypress juice once, then dragged with oakley sunglasses juice once, and then rouge juice toto once. More to see the depth of plus or minus, drying available sheet by sheet." Visible, the Ming Dynasty inherited both dyeing and decorating methods, but also bold innovation, adding the acorn water and rouge water, making the book protection and a big step forward.