典籍與文明共榮,華夏文明之所以能綿延不絕、傳承有序,正是代代藏書家薪火相傳,經(jīng)由他們鉤沉抉微、備輯百家等努力,才使大量傳統(tǒng)典籍流傳至今。
雕版印刷自唐末五代流傳開(kāi)來(lái),中國(guó)的文化、書籍傳播迅速加快,在此過(guò)程中,浙江一直走在全國(guó)的前列。不僅刻書繁盛,且藏書雅閣比比皆是。藏書名樓林立,名家輩出,為保存和傳播中國(guó)古代藏書文化起著重大的作用。自晉至清,浙江僅私人藏書家就有400余人,有名可稽的藏書樓達(dá)200多處。現(xiàn)存有明代寧波天一閣、清代杭州文瀾閣、清代溫州瑞安玉海樓、民國(guó)湖州南潯嘉業(yè)堂以及紹興古越藏書樓、湖州吳興皕宋樓、余姚五桂樓、嘉興秀洲曝書亭、海寧衍芬草堂、海鹽西澗草堂、寧波海曙伏跗室等,無(wú)不久負(fù)盛名。在這些藏書樓中,珍藏了數(shù)以萬(wàn)計(jì)堪稱稀世珍寶的古籍善本,不僅是對(duì)知識(shí)的保存,更是對(duì)文化的傳承,對(duì)后代的教育發(fā)揮了巨大作用。
本期特別策劃由劉凡力、金少策策劃,顧志興、徐露路、馬克強(qiáng)執(zhí)筆,聚焦天一閣、文瀾閣、玉海樓和嘉業(yè)堂的前世今生。
Yesterday and Today of Libraries
Books are an essential part of a civilization. The Chinese civilization has thrived uninterrupted for thousands of years thanks partly to book collectors. In ancient China, book bibliophiles searched and collected books, they put together and printed anthologies and they edited and annotated books. It is due to their endeavors that the classics of the ancient times have come down to us today.
Block printing became popular and industrialized in the last years of the Tang Dynasty and the following Five Dynasties, accelerating the dissemination of knowledge, religion, and literature. Zhejiang led the country as a powerhouse of the book industry. As of the Song Dynasty, Hangzhou became a printing center of the country, which in turn turned the metropolis into a center of culture and literature.
The booming printing industry in Hangzhou also saw the mushrooming of private libraries across the province. History mentions over 400 private book collectors and names 200-plus private libraries in Zhejiang in the 17 centuries from the Jin Dynasty(266-420) up to the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911). Today, four of them still exist. Tianyige Library in Ningbo? dates back to the Ming Dynasty. Wenlange Library in Hangzhou was an imperial institution of the Qing Dynasty. Yuhailou Library in Ruian is a private library that dates back to the Qing whereas Jiayetang Library is relatively young founded in the years of the Republic of China (1911-1949). These libraries combine to house tens of thousands of ancient books in their collections in a bid to preserve knowl edge, carry on culture and provide future readers with education opportunities.