In China, China has attached great importance to the study of book editions for a long time. The original research and proofreading work are combined into one. Liu Xiang's collation of books in the Han Dynasty was based on the books of the imperial court and the secret government, the books of Taichang, Taishi and doctors, his own books and the books of some officials. On the basis of proofreading and writing according to different versions of books, he also wrote a "narrative", which revealed the contents of the original book and the author's academic thoughts, explained the importance of studying and using different versions when proofreading books, and also explained the relationship between studying and identifying various books and proofreading and bibliography.
Before the invention of printing, the same book often had different manuscripts; After the invention of printing, a book will produce different books after continuous engraving. These different versions are different in writing, printing, binding and so on. There will also be various complicated phenomena in the origin and relationship of various versions. Studying these differences and looking for the law of * * * from many complicated phenomena is called typology.
The word "version" first appeared in the early Song Dynasty. "Ben" originally refers to writing silk books, and "Edition" refers to bamboo slips. When Liu Xiangdian entered the secret school, the so-called "one person holds a book and one person learns", and "book" has already pointed out the basic books. After block printing, the printed book is called "version", and the last carved book is called "book". The word "edition" was used until the Song Dynasty and was widely used as a special name for woodcut books. Later, the scope of "edition" gradually expanded, generally referring to the written version of bamboo slips and silk paper before block printing, rubbings, Shi Yinben, photocopies, movable type books and other books after block printing.
After the invention of block printing, the spread of books was gradually replaced by printed books. However, in addition to the errors caused by the publication and engraving of printed books, there are differences in the circulation and engraving of books at different times, places and families because of their long history. People pay more attention to the quality of book editions. As far as we know, the Bibliography of Sui Chutang compiled by You Mao in the early Southern Song Dynasty has been published in different versions under the same title. During the Southern Song Dynasty, there were as many as 13 kinds of books in Ye Mengde Collection.
Engraving printing flourished in Ming dynasty, but after the middle period, the old version of Song and Yuan dynasties became less and less common. In order to sell quickly and conveniently, some booksellers not only neglect proofreading, but also scribble books hastily, and sometimes even cut the length, change the title and write people. In addition, some mercenary people often use various methods to make fake ancient books and confuse them for sale; As a result, people are confused about the contents of the book. In order to make reading and academic research have an accurate and reliable literature foundation, acquire knowledge that can correct the mistakes in book publishing, engraving and dissemination, identify the authenticity of the version, and identify whether the original book has special historical and technical value, bibliographic works mainly describing illustrated versions gradually appear. At the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Qian Ceng wrote four volumes of Reading Qiu Min Ji according to his own library, which recorded many old editions and banknotes of ancient books, and discussed the similarities and differences between their versions and editions, which was called the foundation work of typology by later generations.
The Bibliography of Tianlu Lin Lang compiled by Yu Minzhong in the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty first sorted out the contents according to the edition times of books, and then divided them into historical subsets. Moreover, after each book, the origin and characteristics of the edition, the circulation and acceptance of the book, the impression patterns of the books in the book and their seals are described in detail. , influenced by later collectors' cataloging of rare books.
After the mid-Qing Dynasty, many famous bibliophiles attached great importance to the study of book collections. For example, the inscriptions on ancient books written by Huang Pilie during the Daoguang period were very helpful to identify the versions of ancient books, and later generations compiled them into several titles, such as Books in the Garden. Others, such as Qu Yong's Book Catalogue of Changshu Tongjianlou, Yang Shaohe's Notes on Liaocheng Tanshujiao, Qiantang's Book Collection of Rare Books, and An Lu Xinyuan's Book Collection of Song Lilou, are also used by people when they understand the contents, circulation and research versions of ancient books.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there appeared some typological monographs, such as Liu An's A Study of the Origin of China Stereotype, Lin Shu's A Study of China Stereotype, and Version General Meaning.
After the founding of New China, Mao Chunxiang's Comments on the Version of Ancient Books, Chen Guoqing's Comments on the Version of Ancient Books, Wei Yinru's History of Printing of Ancient Books in China, Wei Yinru and Wang Jinyu's Appraisal and Comments on the Version of Ancient Books, Questioning the Edition of Qu Mianliang, and Shi Tingyong's Overview of the Version of Ancient Books in China, etc. At the same time, the monographs published in Taiwan Province Province include "Study on the Version of Ancient Books in China" and "Study on the Version Appraisal of Ancient Books" (Li Qingzhi).