A History Of Edition Studies In The Qing Dynasty

The development of textology and publication provided important opportunity to the edition studies. There were many scientists committed to the edition studies,many of them came from Jiang Su and Zhe Jiang Province. According to their academic interest of them, we can divided them into two categories:textual criticism and appreciation.They recorded their research results by bibliography, postscript, etc.The reliability of text was the first standard to evaluate various editions. At the same time, they paid much attention to the heritage value. Because of this,they praised editions printed in Song and Yuan Dynasty highly.As changing of the time, the heritage value occupied a larger proportion in their evaluation criteria. They had mastered comprehensive approach to identification of different editions. Collation was the most important and basic way.We can divide the edition studies in Qing Dynasty into three periods.From the early Qing to early Qianlong was the first period. In this period there were many famous edition scientists,such as Qian Qianyi,Maoyi and Qianzeng in Changshu,and some other edition scientists around Xu Qianxue.Fengshu,Fengban,Lu Yidian and Hezhuo concerned about the collation,but Qianzeng and Sun Congtian focused on appreciation. Large number of edition directories appeared and The Bibliography of Precious Books of Jiguge was the most outstanding representative. The most influential works were Qian Zeng's Record of Seeking and Reading Books and Sun Congtian's Record Points of Favorite Books.From Mid-Qianlong to Daoguang was the second period of the history of edition studies. In this period, the edition studies made a tremendous development.There were many famous edition scientists and various forms of works. The Directory of Tianlulinlang focused on appreciation, and had used comprehensive approaches.And this book had a tremendous impact on the future development to the edition studies. The Directory of Si Ku Quan Shu also focused on edition research. Huang Pilie and Gu Guangqi were two well-known scholars in this period.Huang Pilie was fond of books printed in Song Dynasty and books had been accurated well.He was good at identification.So he was a top scholar in the history of edition studies.Gu Guangqi paied attention to books printed in Song and Yuan.And this concept caused a direct result of collation thoughts of collating without collation. Postscript to Collection of Books of Baijinglou and Notes to the Books of Airijinglu were models for compiling bibliography.Other scholars such as Ruanyuan,Sun Xingyan,Qian Daxin,Bao Tingbo and Chenshan, etc. made a great achievements,too.From Xianfeng to Xuantong was the third period of the history of edition studies. In this period, various new forms of works had been created. Four well-known bibliophiles such as Quyong,Yang Shaohe,Dingbing and Lu Xinyuan attached importance to edition studies.Shao Yichen and Mo Youzhi annotated to the Concise Directory of Si Ku Quan Shu,and made a great achievement. The scholar made the maximum achievement was Ye Dehui and his Shu Lin Qing Hua.Yang Shoujing searched books in Japan and wrote Notes of Searching Books in Japan in which he revealed the value of codex.Miao Quansun,Fu Yili,Ye Changchi,Li Xisheng, Jiangbiao and other scholars also focused on the edition studies.