[The author said]
Lu Xun's Bookstore is my fifth monograph on Lu Xun's microscopic research. The first four books are: "Lu Xun's Grass and Wood Tree", "Lu Xun's Dinner", "Lu Xun's Cover" and "Lu Xun's House Number". After reading Lu Xun for more than 20 years, he has produced five series of works, and has received the attention and concern of Mr. Zhou Lingfei, the eldest grandson of Lu Xun and the president of the Lu Xun Cultural Foundation, which is very surprising to me. I salute Mr. Big with these five small achievements of "Micro Lu Xun". Gains and losses are judged by readers, but there is no intention to insert the willow here, is it not the meaning of "but do good deeds and do not ask about the future"?
"Lu Xun's Bookstore" uses bookstores as the starting point to study Lu Xun. The first volume studies 28 bookstores that are closely related to Lu Xun on a chronological axis, focusing on the interaction between Lu Xun and bookstores. The next volume takes the topic as a clue and studies some historical facts of Lu Xun's purchase, copying, binding, and collection.
According to the "Catalogue of Lu Xun's Handwriting and Collection" compiled by the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing in 1959, Lu Xun's collection totaled more than 1,4 volumes, including 946,7704 books of <> types of Chinese threads. This naturally cannot be compared with the famous book collectors at that time, such as Zhang Yuanji and Fu Zengxiang, nor with the books of wealthy celebrities Liu Chenggan and Yuan Kewen, but Lu Xun's effect of his book collection, bursting ideological sparks, and creating spiritual wealth have created a peak in the history of modern literature and even academic history. Lu Xun's buying and collecting books, copying and supplementing books, selling books and easy books, and buying and selling copies reflect Lu Xun's attitude towards books and his attitude of studying and composing.
Sell medallions and buy books
Lu Xun was very diligent when he studied at the Nanjing Mining and Railway School. The school stipulates a small test every month, and those with excellent results will be awarded a third-class medal; If three third-class medals are accumulated, a second-class medal will be issued; Those who have accumulated three second class medals will be exchanged for a first class medal; Finally, three First Class Medals can be exchanged for a Gold Medallion. Only Lu Xun in the class has won this gold medal.
After Lu Xun got the gold medal, he did not wear it to show off, but took it to Gulou Street and sold it. Lu Xun said: "Gold medals can be exchanged for money, and you can buy whatever you want; Moreover, the gold medal can only indicate the academic performance at that time, it cannot prove the good or bad of my future grades; Moreover, if the gold medal is saved, it will always be just a gold medal, and the gold medal will never change into anything else. If it is not done well, it will increase people's vanity, breed pride, and never be motivated. And from books, you can get knowledge. (Yang Jiyun, "Trivial Memories of Lu Xun")
After selling the medallion, Lu Xun bought back a few beloved books and a bunch of red peppers. Whenever he read until the dead of night and the cold and sleepy, he would pick up a chili pepper, divide it into several pieces, put it in his mouth and chew, chew it so that his forehead sweated, his body was warm, and his sleepiness was eliminated, so he picked up the book again and studied it.
During this period, Lu Xun bought his favorite "Theory of Heavenly Speech" in recent years. This is a book that promotes Darwinian evolution, which was translated by Yan Fu, an important figure of the Restorationists, based on the famous British biologist Huxley's "Evolution and Ethics". The book cost Lu Xun 500 yuan, and evolutionary thought not only became the basis of Lu Xun's worldview, but also provided a basic framework for his cultural comparison between China and foreign countries.
The purchase of "the general book"
Lu Xun had no intention of becoming a specialized bibliophile. The characteristics of Lu Xun's collection are, on the one hand, that he is eager to search for books as much as the economy allows; On the other hand, it is practical, and does not pay attention to the Song Journal. Lu Xun's collection of common books such as Chinese line bound books and subsets of scripture and history is basically complete, and it is said that there are only 21 kinds of rare book standards, and more are ordinary versions. Xu Guangping recalled in "A Glimpse of Lu Xun's Book Collection" in the 20s of the 40th century: "Various types of books and series of books in Chinese studies also occupy some positions, but it seems that there is no rare unique book in China... Or because Mr. Lu Xun usually does not have a lot of purchasing power for rare books and rare books. After the founding of New China, Sun Li found the books purchased by Lu Xun according to the "book account" in Lu Xun's diary, and it was quite rewarding.
The book Lu Xun bought, in his own words, was "a normal book."
Lu Xun is not a "versionist". It's not that he doesn't want to buy ancient books with good versions and good tastes, but his pockets are shy, so all he buys are cheap books, as long as they can be used, talk is better than nothing. He is also helpless about this, so words such as "pity", "inferior" and "evil" often appear in the diary. For example, on December 1912, 12, "The afternoon ... and to Liuli Factory (that is, Liuli Factory, the same below)... He also found a copy of the "Evening Laughing Hall Painting Biography", which was very evil, and also purchased it for seven-dime silver for study." I was not satisfied with the book, but I was still able to practice, so I bought it.
At the end of 1912, Lu Xun took stock of the book accounts and issued the following emotion: "Jingshi regards ancient books as antiques (that is, antiques), which only the strong can reach. Today, people don't have to read books in the world, and my generation has no power to buy books, so Shang Fuyue threw more than <> gold, packed up several broken books to say to himself (the same as "Yue"), and can also laugh and sigh at people. ”
This emotion contains both the helplessness of powerlessness and the self-amusement of "packing up a few broken books to talk to themselves". This year is Lu Xun's first year in the Ministry of Education, and he can only receive allowances and half a salary during the half-year internship, and only after turning positive at the end of the year will he set a monthly salary of 220 yuan, with a total annual income of nearly 1500,10 yuan. The "more than <> yuan" recorded in the book has exceeded <>% of his annual income.
On March 1913, 3, the week was closed, and "the books were sorted out in the afternoon, and there were two shelves full, so I laughed and sighed at what happened." While laughing at himself, but still buying books, in 16 year-end inventory, the whole year spent a total of 1913.310 yuan to buy books, an average of 22.25 yuan per month.
During the Beijing period, Lu Xun's book purchases peaked in 1916, spending a total of 496.52 yuan throughout the year. On November 1919, 11, Lu Xun and his family moved to No. 21 Badaowan, where they had a fixed residence, and at the same time, his and Zhou Zuoren's collection of books became increasingly rich. Books have increased, and of course bookshelves have increased, and on July 11, 1920, Lu Xun "bought bookshelf six." Organize books in the afternoon".
But this calm situation of collecting books, reading and teaching books was hit hard in July 1923. On July 7 of that year, the Zhou brothers lost peace. After that, Lu Xun's life order was reconstructed, his mood was gloomy, and his book purchases fell off a cliff, buying books for 7.14 yuan in 1923 and only 149.2 yuan in 1924, "99.24 yuan per month." The average monthly is only 8.286 yuan, an "ear" word, which contains the sadness of many helplessness and vicissitudes of life.
In May 1924, Lu Xun moved into No. 5, West Sanjo Hutong, the gate of the palace, and two years later, he bought another bookcase: on August 21, 1926, "I bought a bookcase in the small market at noon, and the spring was ten yuan." The increase in bookcases has witnessed the increase in the collection of books. Lu Xun's diary records that he bought a bookcase only twice, and this time, the other time was on December 8, 14, when he lived in Shanghai: "Buy a bookcase, spring ten yuan and five corners." At that time, Lu Xun moved into No. 1927 Jingyunli not long ago.
On October 1936, 10, Lu Xun wrote a letter to his student and fellow villager Song Zipei, entrusting him to go to Xisanjo Hutong to find the "Book of Agriculture" written by Wang Zhen of the Yuan Ren. Although it has been 12 years since he left Beiping, and it has been 10 years since his last visit to relatives, Lu Xun still remembers the distribution of books in the bookcases in Xisanjo Hutong very clearly: "There are two large glass bookcases in the living room, three floors in the upper part, and the upper two floors are Chinese books, and the "Book of Agriculture" may be inside. At the same time, the appearance of the book is also described very clearly: "The appearance of this book is a thin eight (large) or ten books, lake-colored silk wrapped in corners, white paper printing, can be distinguished at a glance." It was only a week after Lu Xun's death. Personally running the house, rubbing the book from time to time, and instructing students to search for it from a distance, it is like seeing it in person, which is impressive.
During his 14 years in Beijing, Lu Xun saved money and spent nearly 4000,800 yuan to buy books. After arriving in Shanghai, Lu Xun's life settled down, he also had a stable residence, and a special library, and he bought more books, often more than 1930 yuan a year, reaching a peak of 2404.5 yuan in 200, with an average monthly average of 375.5 yuan, while five years ago he spent less than 1000,<> yuan on the courtyard house in the three hutongs in the west of Fuchengmen, Beijing.
On July 1934, 7, Lu Xun wrote the article "Buying the "Records of Primary Schools", recording the situation when he bought a Qing Dynasty banned book "Primary School Collection" on Sima Road in Shanghai, and sighed: "I really can't afford to buy wire-bound books." The price of the engraved book in the Qianlong period was almost equal to the Song book at that time. The Ming version of the novel soared after the May Fourth Movement... As for the banned books of the Qing Dynasty, they are treasures, even if they are not full of works, they often cost more than 10 to tens of yuan. I have always walked through used bookstores, but I never dared to think about such treasure books. ”
Lu Xun does not use the best books for the purpose of searching, and what he sees is ordinary ancient books and ordinary materials, but even if it is a very ordinary version, Lu Xun can exert its maximum effect. For example, Lu Xun's "History of Chinese Novels" is the pioneering work of the study of the history of novels in China, and the 1936th edition was published in October 10, the day of Lu Xun's death. Regarding this pioneering and foundational work, Lu Xun said: "I am ashamed to say that although I hastily compiled a "History of Chinese Novels", there are no books in my home, rare old engravings, and almost all the materials used as materials are reprints, new prints, and even lithographs. In another place, Lu Xun also said: "My "History of Chinese Novels" was compiled in order to teach and make a living, and it was limited to economics at that time, so the books I collected were not good books. ”
Flying flowers and fallen leaves are all weapons, and the shots are splendid articles, which are the top masters.
Copy books and supplement books
Lu Xun was one of the most accomplished "book scribes" in the late Qing Dynasty.
When Lu Xun was a child, he not only loved to read, but also liked to copy books. He copied a lot of books. For books on grass, wood, insects and fish alone, I copied "Wild Vegetable Recipes", "Notes on Releasing Grass" and "Notes on Insects", and popularized them to "Tea Sutra", "Lingyi Jing", "Five Wood Sutra" and so on. Obviously, copying books benefited him a lot. His memory is so good and the books he has read are not forgotten, which is closely related to his hobby of copying books. Moreover, the good habit of copying books has also formed Lu Xun's strong ability to compare, proofread, and hook and sink.
The number of books copied by Lu Xun in his lifetime, the most conservative statistics, is at least 100 million words. From 1915 to 1918 alone, he transcribed 790 kinds of ancient monuments, nearly 2000,<> pieces. He copied and wrote all kinds of oracle bone, gold, truth, subordinate, seal, and grass fonts. A large number of copying is a good training for Lu Xun's calligraphy.
For example, on March 1915, 3, "Night View (same as "Ying") wrote a volume of the "Qin Han Wadang Text", counting ten days from the beginning to now. On April 29, "Go to the Qing Secret Pavilion to buy paper and pens, and combine one yuan." Late writing of the "Qin Han Wadang Script" under one volume, counting twelve days." On the 4th, "in the afternoon, the book branch library returned the "Qin Han Wadang Script" and Toding (same as "ordered") books." This is after spending 10 days copying the "Qin Han Wadang Script", and then binding the book branch library by the way.
Sell books and easy books
Lu Xun loves to buy books and collect books, and occasionally sells books and easy books.
The first situation is to sell books to save the poor.
Lu Xun is very business-minded, and in the article "From the Hundred Herb Garden to the Sanwei Bookhouse", Lu Xun recalled that when he was a child, he used a kind of "Jingchuan paper" to cover the embroidered portraits of the novel, and painted the embroidered portraits of "Dangkou Zhi" and "Journey to the West", both of which had a large copy. "Later, because I wanted money, I sold it to a rich classmate." The classmate's father owned a foil shop.
On July 1913, 7, Lu Xun bought a copy of "Sixty Kinds of Songs" engraved by Mao Jin Jiguge in the Ming Dynasty and an eighty copies of it at the price of 13 yuan in Shaoxing Kuiyuan Hall. Eight years later, on April 24, 8, Lu Xun was in financial difficulties and sold this set of books for 1921 yuan, and his diary on the same day was clouded: "I sold a copy of the "Sixty Kinds of Songs" in my collection in the morning, got 4 springs, and took it from Xinhua Bank in the afternoon." Lu Xun brought "Sixty Kinds of Songs" from Shaoxing to Beijing, and earned 7 yuan in eight years of collection, which shows that Lu Xun's ability to survive and adapt is remarkable.
Lu Xun sold books to save the poor, and there were also cases where there was no transaction due to unsatisfactory prices. For example, the Ming Codex "Lizhai Idle Record", "because of hunger and panic", wanted to sell to his top boss, Fu Zengxiang, the chief education officer of the Beiyang government, Fu not only let Lu Xun run three or four times, the bargain was still very heavy, only 8 yuan, this transaction was not negotiated.
The second case is to eliminate the old.
Lu Xun's diary on January 1916, 1, "In the afternoon, he went to Liuli Factory to sell Fu Dun Guyi, the ugly man of the Zang (same as "Tibet") stone topology of the Shandong Jinshi Preservation Institute." Dunguyi is a stele shop in Liuli Factory, and often comes to Lu Xun to send statues and rubbings. The "Rubbing of the Ugly", that is, the Rubbing of the Rubbing, that is, the Rubbing that is not well developed or has little value. By nature, this is a rejection. It can be seen from this move that Lu Xun has high requirements for the quality of topology. On October 15, 1918, Lu Xun and Dunguyi had another transaction, buying and selling. Sold "Yuling Cave Stone", and added 10 yuan to buy the statue. Equivalent exchange, more refunds and less supplements, it is quite interesting to read.
The third situation is dealing with bad books.
On July 1918, 7, Lu Xun "exchanged 31 coupons for a volume of the "Yin Wu Bu Zhi" at the post office in the past, and it was very bad to read it." This "Yin Wu Bu Zhi", which was rated as "very inferior" by Lu Xun, was compiled and printed by the Canadian Mingyishi and printed in Shanghai in March 1917. Lu Xun had a very low evaluation of the book and thought it expensive, so on September 3, he "asked Liu Bannong to sell the "Yin Wu Bu Zhi" and got twenty yuan in gold coupons." Lu Xun has considerable skills in the identification of oracle bones, and such expensive and inferior books are dealt with without accident.
The fourth case is to sell your own work.
During his stay in Shanghai, Lu Xun also sold books, but most of them sold his own collections, whether they were sold at the original price or at a discount, all of which were business practices, and there was no difference between farmers selling grain in the field, for example: on April 1932, 4, "In the afternoon, Fu Guanghua Bookstore's "Iron Flow" 27 copies and "Destruction" <> copies, five discounts, a total of <> yuan and eight jiao, first receive a check of <> yuan."
The fifth case is a quick change of hands.
On January 1935, 1, Lu Xun bought three copies of "Drinking and Eating" for one yuan. However, the book was only left at Lu Xun's house for one night, and the next day it was sold by Lu Xun to the Japanese doctor Sudo 10 at the original price, and Lu Xun's diary on January 1935, 1: "In the morning, Tongguangping took the sea baby to Sudo Hospital for consultation, and sold it to Mr. Sudo with "Drinking and Eating", and got one yuan from the spring. "Lu Xun and Sudo have a close relationship. Lu Xun seemed to think that a book like "Drinking and Eating" was more suitable for placing on the doctor's shelf, so he quickly struck.
The sixth case is "easy to take" and "value" exchange.
At the beginning of Lu Xun's collection of topology, sometimes it was "easy to take" and "easy to obtain", that is, exchanged. For example, on April 1919, 4, "to Liuli Factory, it is easy to obtain the "Epitaph of Cui Xuanhua" with Wang Shufeng (the same as "brick"), as a coupon for three yuan." Sometimes it is customary to buy other rubbings with the value of re-topping, in fact, they sell first and then buy, the fundamental purpose is to save money. In this case, the last record in the diary was on January 10, 1920: "With the re-published "Lü Chaozhi" topography in Liuli Factory, it is easy to obtain one epitaph each of Mrs. Zheng Shu and Sui Weiniang, and make a coupon for four yuan. ”
Interestingly, since then, Lu Xun has not "valued" or "made coupons" for reprinting books and books, but directly gave them to friends, which may be related to his life improvement and self-respecting identity at this time.
The relationship between Lu Xun and the bookstore, to a small extent, reflects the commodity exchange relationship of buying and selling books, and in the large way, it reflects the interactive relationship between writers and society - spiritual consumption, human relations, etc. The process of Lu Xun's dealings with various bookstores reflects the prosperity and decline of bookstores, the changes in publishing culture, the warmth and coldness of the literary climate, and the variety of people in the world, which is a special window to observe Lu Xun's life. It is a great honor that the book can be published in Mr. Lu Xun's hometown.
(Guangming Daily author: Xue Linrong, a member of the China Writers Association)