Printing and Book Culture in Late Imperial China
Cynthia Brokaw
Abstract
Despite the importance of books and the written word in Chinese society, the history of the book in China is a topic that has been little explored. This book of essays—written by historians, art historians, and literary scholars—introduces the major issues in the social and cultural history of the book in late imperial China. Informed by insights from the rich literature on the history of the Western book, these essays investigate the relationship between the manuscript and print culture; the emergence of urban and rural publishing centers; the expanding audience for books; the development of ... More
Despite the importance of books and the written word in Chinese society, the history of the book in China is a topic that has been little explored. This book of essays—written by historians, art historians, and literary scholars—introduces the major issues in the social and cultural history of the book in late imperial China. Informed by insights from the rich literature on the history of the Western book, these essays investigate the relationship between the manuscript and print culture; the emergence of urban and rural publishing centers; the expanding audience for books; the development of niche markets and specialized publishing of fiction, drama, non-Han texts, and genealogies; and more.
Keywords:
book history,
social history,
cultural history,
Western books,
manuscripts,
print culture,
publishing centers,
book audience,
niche markets,
fiction publishing
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2005 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520231269 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520231269.001.0001 |
