Compared to a Song Dynasty book that can easily cost millions, the price of a Qing Dynasty book is undoubtedly much lower. Some Qing Dynasty books can even be bought for a few hundred yuan.
After all, by the Qing Dynasty, printing technology had become popular and printing costs were much lower. Most importantly, compared with Song Dynasty books from 700 to 800 years ago, there are many more books from the Qing Dynasty, which are only 300 to 400 years old, that have been preserved.
The condition of this Qing edition book is acceptable. According to Yang Jing's judgment, the quality of this book should be up to 85%.
This book has about seventy or eighty pages. The title of the book is written on the cover - "Miscellaneous Talks of Ancient People", and the author's name - Liu Zheng - is written on the lower left.
Obviously, this should be a book introducing ancient people.
However, Yang Jing had never heard of either the title of the book or the author.
Seeing Yang Jing reading the cover, the shop owner said, "This book should be a book published by the people during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. After I collected this book, I once specifically looked up the author. According to my research, Liu Zheng's courtesy name is Shiqi, and he is from Zhejiang Province in Jiangnan. He was a juren in the 42nd year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty."
Although Liu Zheng Liu Shiqi is not a famous person, since the boss can confirm that he was a juren in the 42nd year of Kangxi, this book must be a book from the Kangxi period. The most important thing is that this book can still maintain the quality of the 85th grade, which is quite rare.
Yang Jing carefully opened the first page, and what caught his eye was the name of Han Yu, one of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties.
It took less than two pages to introduce Han Yu, and then there were introductions to Liu Zongyuan, Su Shi and others.
At this point, Yang Jing realized that this book was probably written by a frustrated scholar or juren in the Qing Dynasty, who was bored and wrote a book specifically to introduce famous literati in the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties. Its function is a bit like Baidu Encyclopedia of characters.
At this time, Yang Jing's phone rang. It was his uncle calling.
"Uncle, you can walk around with grandpa first. I'll take a look at the store we were in. I'll come find you later."
After hanging up the phone, Yang Jing continued reading the book.
The book is well compiled, and the most important thing is that Yang Jing discovered that this book should not be an ordinary Qing edition, but a printed edition.
Among ancient books, whether they are Song Dynasty books, Ming Dynasty books, or worthless Qing Dynasty books, they all include methods such as woodblock printing, movable type, and handcopying, but the most valuable ones are the engraved books.
The so-called engraved books refer specifically to books printed by engraving. Take the most valuable Song Dynasty engraved books as an example. If Song Dynasty books are the crown of ancient rare books, then Song Dynasty engraved books are the most dazzling diamond on the crown.
By the same token, even if a Qing Dynasty book is worthless, if it is a rare engraved edition, its value may not be less than that of a Ming Dynasty book.
Seeing Yang Jing was somewhat moved, the shop owner smiled. "How about it, little brother, do you see the difference between this book and others?"
Yang Jing looked up at the boss, gave him a thumbs up and said, "Boss, you are not simple, you actually collected a Qing Dynasty edition. But it's a pity that this book is not an official edition, but a private edition or a printing house edition."
The shop owner laughed and said, "It's not easy to get an official edition. If it were an official edition, it would have been collected by a museum long ago."
Yang Jing nodded, said nothing more, and continued reading.
After a long while, Yang Jing gently closed the book and said to the boss: "Boss, this book is good, how much can you give me?"
The boss said, "Little brother, you can see that although this book is a Qing edition and cannot be compared with Ming and Song editions, the quality of my book is top-notch. Now, let alone Qing editions, even books from the Republic of China period may not be in such good condition. So if you want it, take it for five thousand."
After hearing this, Yang Jing shook his head slightly and said, "Boss, this price is too high."
"Not expensive, not expensive. This is a Qing Dynasty edition from the Kangxi period in such good condition. Although it is not an official edition, this price is definitely not high for this book."
Yang Jing smiled and said, "Boss, if this book is really a Qing edition from the reign of Emperor Kangxi, even if it is a private edition or a private edition, I will take it without hesitation. Unfortunately, your book is not from the reign of Emperor Kangxi. If I am not mistaken, this book should be from the reign of Emperor Guangxu."
"What? From the Guangxu period? That's impossible! I'm sure the author of this book was from the Kangxi period, so how could it be a book from the Guangxu period?" The boss was a little anxious.
Yang Jing said, "Boss, you are a professional in ancient rare books. You should know that the true origin of a book cannot be judged only by the author. And I believe you are also aware of the characteristics of the printed books in the early Qing Dynasty, right?"
The boss nodded and was about to say something, but Yang Jing didn't give him a chance to speak. Instead, he flipped open the book and pointed at the words on it and said, "The fonts in the early Qing Dynasty are still in the style of the late Ming Dynasty, with rectangular characters, thick vertical lines and thin horizontal lines. After the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the "writing style" and "Song style" became popular. After the reign of Emperor Daoguang, the fonts of the printed books began to become rigid, known as "craftsman style characters". Look at the font of this book. Do you think this font is in the style of the late Ming Dynasty?"
"Although you can be sure that the author of this book is a juren in the 42nd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the font of this book is dull and has no spirit at all. It is a typical craftsman-style font of the late Qing Dynasty. How could such a block-printed edition appear during the reign of Emperor Kangxi? Such a font would not even appear in a block-printed edition during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods."
When saying the latter part, Yang Jing had been looking at the shop owner. As expected, Yang Jing clearly caught the flash of panic in the shop owner's eyes.
At this time, Yang Jing had a clear idea in his mind.
If Yang Jing's judgment was correct, the shop owner should have known that this book was a printed edition from the late Qing Dynasty. It was just that the shop owner got a cover from somewhere and then used a trick to replace the cover on this book.
There are many such cases in the antique world. This boss is kind-hearted, at least he bought a book from the late Qing Dynasty. If it were a bad boss, he might have used a book from the Republic of China to fool you.
If it were a customer with slightly worse basic skills, after seeing that the author was from the Kangxi period and that the book was a printed edition, he might ignore the font in surprise.
After all, even the Jiangti style of calligraphy does not look much different from the cursive style or Song style of the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. Only people who are proficient in this area can tell the difference between them.
The shop owner saw that Yang Jing was so sure and knew that he had met an expert, so he smiled bitterly and asked, "How much do you want to pay?"
Yang Jing smiled and raised a finger...
PS: I would like to thank "Lights See People", "Ice Eight Degrees" and "Purple Flame Pride" for their 100 rewards.
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