Abstract:

The movable type printed edition of “Yanzi Chunqiu” from the Ming dynasties was the progenitor of all the later edition of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Researches has found identities in terms of type block characteristics, the page, paragraph and line arrangements between this Movable Type edition
and the Ming Copper Movable Type books including the “Kai Yuan Tian Bao Yi Shi” by Zhang of Jianye Era and “Shi Men Hong Jue Fan Tian Chu Jin Luan” by Zhang Tianzhi of Zhengde. Therefore, the conclusion has been drawn that the “Yanzi Chunqiu” is an edition by Zhang using the same but rearranged Copper
Movable Type around Zhengde. Moreover, during Ming and Qing, various of “Yanzi Chunqiu” editions had been derived from Zhang’s. Their origin, transmission and receiving are complicated. These derived editions can be generally categorised into abridged and unabridged versions. It is found the abridged version had the progenitor of “Zi Hui” edition of Zhengde. However, multiple of proofed “Yanzi Chunqiu” in Late-Qing adopted the same master edition proofed by Sun xingyan.

Key words:

Yanzi Chunqiu, Copper Movable type printing, Edition