Not a european book this time. But this chinese book has a european link as Jan Tschichold once called this book "An incomparably perfect facsimile; the best printed book in modern times, anywere". This is the most beautiful book i own. All photographs are from my own copy.
Printed by Rongbaozhai in Beijing in 1952
Woodblock print in ink and colour on paper, string binding, titled by Yu Feian
First
printed in about 1644, originally edited by Hu Zhengyan (c.1582 -
c.1672), the four volumes including nearly 30 categories of 300 prints
of different objects, motifs, and subjects of traditional Chinese
scholarly interests, the 1952 version printed by historian Zheng Zhenduo
and writer Lu Xun, published by Rong Bao Zhai in Beijing, incorporating
the traditional printing technologies of multi-colour block printing
and embossing used in the very first edition, and is the earliest
complete version of the collection in recent Chinese history.
Hu Zhengyan, the chief artist-editor of the catalogue, was an artist,
author, and seal-cutter. He and a few other artists and scholars in
Nanjing established the Ten Bamboo Studio. Versatile, Hu was
particularly fitting to bring out a book with woodblocks printed in
colour. Besides enhancing the multi-colour block printing technique, he
is also said to have invented the embossing technology. Also known as
blind printing, embossing is a feature that uses an uninked woodblock to
press a raised design into the paper. Such experiments in printing
prove the depth of technical research being made in China at the very
end of the Ming dynasty. Together with an earlier publication, The Treatise on the Paintings and Writings of the Ten Bamboo Studio, the catalogue has since been hailed as a masterpiece of Chinese colour printing and design of all time.
Few
copies of the original versions survived. One was later discovered by
historian Zheng Zhenduo and writer Lu Xun, and became the master copy of
the Republic and the 1952 versions printed by the two. Rong Bao Zhai,
one of the most prestigious publishing-house-and-art-suppliers
established during the early Qing dynasty, published about 200 copies in
1940 - however incomplete, due to the condition of the master copy, and
then about 300 in 1952 - this time in complete collection, both
executed in the spirit of "reviving the traditional and classic methods
of Chinese colour printing".
A catalogue of the same version can be found in the British Museum collection
Registration number: 1984,0203,0.55.1-4
It was exhibited in The Printed Image in China: from the 8th to the 21st Centuries in 2010, and published in the exhibition catalogue of the same name.
How could I contact you?
ReplyDeleteYou can email me at arthurkreuzen[AT]hotmail.com
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ReplyDeleteis this book sold now?
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