Why are so many ancient books orphaned? Can't you make an extra copy?

First of all, the ancient book collectors' concept of collecting books is closed.

Many great bibliophiles, such as Fan Qin Tianyi Pavilion, made books collection agreements to prohibit the circulation and borrowing of books. It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that the trend of bibliophiles borrowing from each other and copying from each other gradually prevailed. Generally speaking, ancient bibliophiles regarded books as antiques or treasures or possessions more important than money.

Qian Ceng was a famous bibliophile in Qing Dynasty, with hundreds of thousands of books. His uncle Qian knew that there was a huge library, and his affair with Liu was a household name. After Qian died, a large part of the anthology was misinformed. We don't comment much on Qian Ceng's character, but let's talk about his meanness to the collection.

He wrote a bibliography book "Reading Qiu Min Ji" based on his own library, which is still an indispensable source of information for our study of ancient books. It records the number of volumes and authors of ancient books. This is a good bibliography. However, after he finished reading Qiu Minji, he didn't want anyone to borrow it. This is the closed concept of book collection, which makes him feel that lending it to others is precious and easy to lose or damage.

One day, his good friend invited him to drink, saying that he secretly took the manuscript of Reading Qiu Minji while drinking, and copied it for later use. Although Qian Ceng was very angry when he learned about it, there was nothing he could do. It is because of this drinking incident that we can see the true face of reading Qiu Minji today.

Secondly, block printing in China was very prosperous in the Song Dynasty. Before the Song Dynasty, books were mainly written, which determined that the circulation of books could only be copied by hand, and the difficulty of circulation could be imagined. With engraving, it is easier for book collectors to collect books. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, bibliophiles loved the Song and Yuan editions (the Song and Yuan editions were carefully proofread and engraved with high quality), but bibliophiles still regarded these books as treasures, and rare things were precious. Many people are reluctant to lend their treasures to others for reproduction.

Why are many books orphans now?

First, because the storage time of writing materials such as paper is not as easy as that of Oracle bones and stones, they will rot when buried underground, and there are various factors that destroy the collection, such as fires, man-made disasters, soldiers, moths and so on. Therefore, even in the Song Dynasty, it had been 1000 years, and paper was not easy to preserve, which greatly affected the circulation of books.

Second, the concept of book collection of bibliophiles, things are rare, and the closed concept of book collection makes them unwilling to take out their unique books and copy them for circulation in the world.