Research On The Format Of Chinese Ancient Books In Block Printing

Book is one of the major carriers of cultural heritage. Those made of oracle bones, bamboo slips, silk, and paper are recognized by the public and handed down one generation after another. Beyond the value of carrying characters and history, these books'unique language characteristics are also important part of the visual culture. Characters are written vertically in columns and ordered from left to right, titles are raised whiles characters indented, pictures are placed on the left while characters on the right…it seems to imply some cultural connotations. The ancient books of block printing, with wide head margin and narrow tail margin, wide line spacing and strong preference on regular script, also embody people's aesthetic inclination. The layouts, fore edges, and connotations of sentences are all thought-provoking. Single pieces of note in the early time and the later masterpieces are all the trails how visual planning develops. This paper targets the format of ancient books of block printing as the object, with the hope to trigger the thoughts on book culture and its design among people in modern times by sorting out the layout and language of ancient books.This paper includes four chapters:ChapterⅠintroduces the format of characters carrier before block printing and the foundation of block printing. ChapterⅡis related to the layout elements of ancient books of block printing and verification of the generation and change of such elements. ChapterⅢinvolves composition of graphic layout of such books. ChapterⅣmainly analyzes the factors that affect the format, such as economics, politics, the goal of publishing the book, etc. Ancient book of block printing is a highly developed form, and each part of its format implies the thoughts of ancient people and their appreciation of the beauty, and is the external expression of Chinese cultural spirit. The continuity and change of ancient books of block printing is the inevitable result of the history, humanistic ideas and culture norms.