DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Written on Bamboo and Silk

The Beginnings of Chinese Books and Inscriptions

Tsuen-hsuin Tsien author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:5th Apr '13

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Written on Bamboo and Silk cover

A landmark in its field - and the only book of its kind available in English - this classic study comprehensively traces the development of Chinese writing from the earliest inscriptions to the advent of printing, organizing its history with significant attention to the tools used for these acts. For this revised edition, Tsien adds material treating the many major documents discovered since the book's original publication, and Edward L. Shaughnessy contributes a new introduction.

"This admirable monograph covers the whole field of epigraphy and the technique of human communication, including the origins and development of paper and the use of it for writing, down to the time of the invention of printing." - Journal of Asian Studies "The best study on the subject, this book should be recommended not only to students of book history and of Chinese culture, but to those in other disciplines who are seeking evidence of the early stages of communication in Chinese Civilization." - Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

ISBN: 9780226814162

Dimensions: 23mm x 15mm x 2mm

Weight: 510g

352 pages

Second Edition