Chapter 9. Writer’s Block or Printer’s Block: The Book and Its Openings in Early Modern China
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Bruce Rusk
Abstract
This paper argues that although the layout of most woodblock-printed books in early modern China treated the text they contained as a formless, running whole, certain commercial printers in the last century of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) paid special attention to the layout of their chapters (juan) and adjusted both formatting and content to achieve certain aesthetic or conceptual ends. It examines several late-Ming “daily use encyclopaedias” (riyong leishu) to assess how their editors organized material within the chapter and manipulated the space of the page, which once bound was different from that of the woodblock on which it was printed, to create visual consistency and ease of consultation. In particular, certain editors worked to ensure that the entirety of diagrams and other visual features remained visible at once, rather splitting them between pages, and moved textual elements around visual ones to bring this about. They also betray a horror vacui (perhaps both aesthetic and material) by leaving as little empty space as possible at the end of each chapter. In these ways, the form of the book could dictate its content and we can see, if askance, some of the concerns of those who produced the books rather than those who wrote the words.
Abstract
This paper argues that although the layout of most woodblock-printed books in early modern China treated the text they contained as a formless, running whole, certain commercial printers in the last century of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) paid special attention to the layout of their chapters (juan) and adjusted both formatting and content to achieve certain aesthetic or conceptual ends. It examines several late-Ming “daily use encyclopaedias” (riyong leishu) to assess how their editors organized material within the chapter and manipulated the space of the page, which once bound was different from that of the woodblock on which it was printed, to create visual consistency and ease of consultation. In particular, certain editors worked to ensure that the entirety of diagrams and other visual features remained visible at once, rather splitting them between pages, and moved textual elements around visual ones to bring this about. They also betray a horror vacui (perhaps both aesthetic and material) by leaving as little empty space as possible at the end of each chapter. In these ways, the form of the book could dictate its content and we can see, if askance, some of the concerns of those who produced the books rather than those who wrote the words.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Figures VII
- List of Tables XIII
- List of Contributors XV
- Introduction 1
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I Slips, Scrolls, and Leaves: Before the Codex
- Chapter 1. Text and Paratext in the Greek Classical Tradition 23
- Chapter 2. Tabernacles of Text: A Brief Visual History of the Hebrew Bible 47
- Chapter 3. Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts 93
- Chapter 4. Sūtra Text in Pecha Format: Page Layout of the Tibetan Vimalakīrtinirdeśa 111
- Chapter 5. Between the Lines and in the Margins: Linguistic Change and Impagination Practices in South Asia 151
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II The Printed World
- Chapter 6. The Margin as Canvas: A Forgotten Function of the Early Printed Page 185
- Chapter 7. Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo 209
- Chapter 8. The Transformation of the Typical Page in the Handpress Era in the Southern Netherlands, 1473–c. 1800 237
- Chapter 9. Writer’s Block or Printer’s Block: The Book and Its Openings in Early Modern China 273
- Chapter 10. Placing Texts on Chinese Pages: From Bamboo Slips to Printed Paper 301
- Chapter 11. Recovering Translation Lost: Symbiosis and Ambilingual Design in Chinese/Manchu Language Reference Manuals of the Qing Dynasty 323
- Chapter 12. Japanophone Glosses (kunten) in Printed and Digitized Manuscripts 351
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III Beyond the Book
- Chapter 13. Beyond the Physical Page: Latest Practice of Scientific Publication 377
- Index 399
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Figures VII
- List of Tables XIII
- List of Contributors XV
- Introduction 1
-
I Slips, Scrolls, and Leaves: Before the Codex
- Chapter 1. Text and Paratext in the Greek Classical Tradition 23
- Chapter 2. Tabernacles of Text: A Brief Visual History of the Hebrew Bible 47
- Chapter 3. Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts 93
- Chapter 4. Sūtra Text in Pecha Format: Page Layout of the Tibetan Vimalakīrtinirdeśa 111
- Chapter 5. Between the Lines and in the Margins: Linguistic Change and Impagination Practices in South Asia 151
-
II The Printed World
- Chapter 6. The Margin as Canvas: A Forgotten Function of the Early Printed Page 185
- Chapter 7. Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo 209
- Chapter 8. The Transformation of the Typical Page in the Handpress Era in the Southern Netherlands, 1473–c. 1800 237
- Chapter 9. Writer’s Block or Printer’s Block: The Book and Its Openings in Early Modern China 273
- Chapter 10. Placing Texts on Chinese Pages: From Bamboo Slips to Printed Paper 301
- Chapter 11. Recovering Translation Lost: Symbiosis and Ambilingual Design in Chinese/Manchu Language Reference Manuals of the Qing Dynasty 323
- Chapter 12. Japanophone Glosses (kunten) in Printed and Digitized Manuscripts 351
-
III Beyond the Book
- Chapter 13. Beyond the Physical Page: Latest Practice of Scientific Publication 377
- Index 399
