| Abstract |
This paper investigates certain aspects of books and manuscript copies in Tang China, based on certain events and experiences in the life of the wellknown historian Liu Zhiji (661-721), in order to gain a better understanding of the manuscript culture in his era. By looking closely into the evidence provided by Liu Zhiji’s own account, this paper reaches a number of conclusions. First, the manuscript copies preserved in Tang imperial libraries were mostly in the form of well-made hand scrolls, whereas manuscript copies in everyday use, such as textbooks used by school children, tended to be made and preserved in the form of loose leaves, not hand scrolls. Second, as Liu Zhiji told us, books he could get hold of, those that he borrowed from his friends, were frequently “incomplete in certain parts and chapters.” This shows that manuscript books made by his contemporaries, limited by resources, seemed to have been mostly incomplete copies, purposely omitting certain parts and chapters. This appears to have been the norm rather than the exception. Third, books in Liu Zhiji’s own family collection, specially those rare “veritable records of the Tang dynasty,” probably came from imperial libraries, perhaps having something to do with one of his grand uncles Liu Yinzhi, who had served as a historian in the Tang court. Fourth, when Liu Zhiji was studying as a young man, books were hard to come by and his family collection was inadequate, so he had to borrow books from both private and public sources, in order to build up a strong foundation for his future career as a great historian. The background of his family and its intimateconnections with Tang officialdom provided distinct advantages and networksfor Liu Zhiji to have easy access to both public and private libraries. |
