Printing for Profit - The Commercial Publishers of Jianyang, Fujian (11th–17th Centuries)

From the eleventh through the seventeenth centuries, the publishers of Jianyang in Fujian province played a conspicuous role in the Chinese book trade. Unlike the products of government and educational presses, their publications were destined for the retail book market. These publishers survived by responding to consumer demands for dictionaries, histories, geographies, medical texts, encyclopedias, primers, how-to books, novels, and anthologies. Their publications reflect the varied needs of the full range of readers in late imperial China and allow us to study the reading habits, tastes, and literacy of different social groups. The publishers of

Summary

Based on an extensive study of Jianyang imprints, genealogies of the leading families of printers, local histories, documents, and annotated catalogs and bibliographies, Printing for Profit is not only a history of commercial printing but also a wide-ranging study of the culture of the book in traditional China.

Product details

• Authors: Lucille Chia
• Publisher: Harvard University, Asia Center
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.03.2003
• EAN: 9780674009554
• ISBN: 978-0-674-00955-4
• No. of pages: 472
• Weight: 785 g
• Illustrations: 78 line illustrations, 2 maps
• Series: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series; Harvard-Yenching Institute Mon; Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series; Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph (HUP)
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History > Cultural history