Chapter 222 Printing and Publishing in the Late Ming Dynasty
Han Jun felt very pleased after hearing about Wang Hongyu's opening of a bookstore and bookstore.
As an official from a foreign land, in addition to his achievements in reassuring the people, farming, water conservancy, conscription, and training, he also wanted to make money in more or less legitimate ways.
Scholars promote the opening of bookstores, which is the most suitable way to make money in line with one's status and reputation.
He thought about it, printing books and bookstores are two different things.
Books are printed outside the city, while bookshops sell books in the city.
He is very familiar with the city. He stroked his beard and analyzed: "Baoding is a famous ancient city, a famous city with prosperous history and culture. The four old streets in the east, west, south and north have their own characteristics, and they all gather a lot of people and cities.
set.
Among the four old streets, West Street has the greatest influence. It has been the core and prosperous area since the Chunhua period of the Song Dynasty. It is located next to the governor's office, and its street length and store size are second to none in Baoding.
Therefore, the bookstore is located on West Street."
"The location will be arranged by Mr. Han."
Wang Hongyu thought that it was different to have the support of the governor, which was equivalent to directly establishing a foothold at the core position.
The two discussed again and asked the governor's Yamen officials' families to make a small investment, take out a share of the dividends, and regularly provide high-quality paper and some ideas to the Governor's Yamen.
In this way, even if there are changes in the future, this business will take root in Baoding.
Han Jun helped others to help him to the end, and now he directly decided on the location and chose a two-story wooden building as the bookstore.
This building faces south and has a brick and wood structure. There is a second courtyard behind it, which is convenient for the storage of books and the residence of clerks.
"Please also ask the Governor to name the bookstore."
Wang Hongyu asked Han Jun to finalize the last thing about the bookshop.
Naming is a very important thing. Han Jun has been busy with government affairs all year round and is a little unfamiliar with poetry and literature, but the foundation is always there. Now that he is using it again, he is quite happy.
After pacing and thinking about the incense for a long time, he suggested: "Zhuoer Bookstore takes the gentleman as the source of excellence, which embodies the spirit that although our bookstore serves scholars, we advocate excellence."
"good!"
When opening a bookstore, in addition to making money, there are actually plans for publicity.
Wang Hongyu came from a later generation and knew very well that since the late Ming Dynasty, there had been a period of rapid development of books and propaganda materials. Of course, he knew the significance of communication theories, propaganda ideas and correct strategies.
In addition to basic content such as popularization and translation of books, I also need to produce easy-to-understand newspapers, as well as various books, periodicals, documents and leaflets.
This involves printing.
Since the middle and late Ming Dynasty, printing technology has been greatly improved, both in terms of the quantity and types of printing, as well as printing technology and craftsmanship, which have greatly exceeded those of the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
As far as the technology of movable type printing is concerned, in the Ming Dynasty, movable type printing using various materials such as clay movable type, wooden movable type, copper movable type, and lead movable type appeared.
Among them, wood movable type printing was widely used in the Ming Dynasty and became the most common printing technology. Compared with block printing, movable type printing not only has high printing efficiency but also saves time and money because materials are easily available and raw materials are cheap.
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This allows you to quickly print the content you want to publish.
You can also do advertising, publicity, illustrations, color printing, etc.
Bookshops all over the country make full use of all elements of the published book texts and package them to achieve the purpose of advertising. In view of market competition, marketing promotion, winning audiences, gaining profits and other needs, bookshop owners start from titles to content.
From text to illustrations, create different forms of advertising.
Wang Hongyu can solicit sponsorship, advertise, attract more people to invest in him, and advertise the industry of himself and his partners.
Many citizens in northern towns may not be aware of the emergence of briquettes. Advertising through popular books and periodicals can play a promotional role. There are also high-quality color-printed books targeting family status, landlords, and wealthy households, and you can bring illustrations of chiming bells, glass crafts, soaps, etc.
, which will definitely play a considerable publicity role.
When carrying out color printing in the Ming Dynasty, the advanced technology of "overprinting" was appropriately added. Although overprinting was invented in the Yuan Dynasty, it was really widely used during the Wanli period.
This type of overprinting is the earliest color printing in the world, and it was developed on the basis of block printing.
The method of color separation and plate separation is used to ultimately print multiple colors on one piece of paper. This printing technology is relatively complex and generally includes three modes: coating, printing and arching.
In the early Ming Dynasty, there were only overprinted books in two colors: red and ink. As printing technology became more and more perfect, it became possible to use four or five colors for overprinting. Such books were called four-color books and five-color books.
In the future, if you engage in some fashion and clothing industries, especially the high-heeled shoes, stockings, tight skirts and other industries that you plan, you can use color printing and advertising to create a publicity effect that is absolutely superior to others.
The popularity of illustrations has led a group of painters to join the printing and publishing industry. Their works are naturally unsurpassed by other engravers, which greatly improves the quality of illustrations.
Wang Hongyu plans to take the opportunity to coordinate the Chinese painting industry and promote Chinese painting, Chinese food, traditional Chinese medicine, tea, porcelain, and silk, which are already world-famous, as Chinese cultural industries.
We can also use missionaries such as Jin Nige to bring some down-and-out, unappreciated painters from Europe to China, where they can make a stable living through printing, illustration, etc.
Just imagine how interesting the future of the famous Impressionists will be based on their own industry and become a part of Chinese painting.
Han Jun thought for a moment and realized that the location of the printing press was indeed more difficult to choose than the bookstore.
Many factors such as wood, water sources, and paper transportation must be considered.
He thought about it and was not very sure: "There are many rivers around Baoding, but there are not many places where it is convenient to get wood and transport it to the bookstore.
The Fu River that passes through the city and the Qingshui River in the south of the city are very close, but there is not enough wood around it. There are many rivers in the south of the city, but they are all used for irrigation, so they are not suitable."
Wang Hongyu added: "At this time, it seems that poplar and willow are mostly used for printing books. Bamboo is also used in the south, which of course is not produced here. Are there areas with more poplar and willow nearby?"
"Oh? That's true. To the west, close to the Taihang Mountains, but at least to Manxian County."
"How far is Manxian County from Baoding City?"
"About 40 miles."
“Is there a river connection?”
"Hahaha, there really is." Han Jun laughed. If he asked other officials, he might not be able to answer this question. However, many of Baoding's soldiers and horses are in the mountains of Manchu County, where there are mountains and mountains.
Water is convenient for training and camping.
"Very good, then choose a suitable place in the county to set up a printing office, and encourage surrounding farmers to plant poplars, willows, and develop the paper industry."