Science and Civilisation in China, Part 1, Paper and Printing

Part one of the fifth volume of Joseph Needham's great enterprise is written by one of the project's collaborators.

Joseph Needham (Author), Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin (Author)

9780521086905, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 July 1985

504 pages
24.6 x 18.9 x 4 cm, 1.382 kg

"Perhaps the greatest single act of historical synthesis and intercultural communication ever attempted by one man."
Laurence Picken, Cambridge University

Part one of the fifth volume of Joseph Needham's great enterprise is written by one of the project's collaborators. Professor Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin, working in regular consultation with Dr Needham, has written the most comprehensive account of every aspect of paper and printing in China to be published in the West. From a close study of the vast mass of source material, Professor Tsien brings order and illumination to an area of technology which has been of profound importance in the spread of civilisation. The main body of the book is a detailed study of the invention, technology and aesthetic development of printing in China. From the growth and ultimate refinements of early woodcut printing to the spread of printing from movable type and the development of book-binding, Professor Tsien carries the story forward to the beginning of the nineteenth century when 'more printed pages existed in Chinese than in all other languages put together'.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]