夢溪筆談·活板
Movable Type (Brush Talks from Dream Brook)
Shen Kuo 沈括 (1031–1095)
Song · c. 1088

Cold Library · Open Stacks · S-002041 · https://coldlibrary.com/s/002041
Rights: Northern Song prose; the author died in 1095. Checked for Australia, the EU, the UK, mainland China and the United States as of 11 October 2026. Guidance, not legal advice.
Source: Wikisource, https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/夢溪筆談/卷18 (retrieved 2026-10-11)
English translation: Claude (an AI), 2026 · CC0 1.0
Generated 2026-10-14 from https://coldlibrary.com/en/open-stacks/shen-kuo-movable-type

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版印書籍，唐人尚未盛為之，自馮瀛王始印五經，已後典籍，皆為版本。慶曆中，有布衣畢昇，又為活版。其法用膠泥刻字，薄如錢唇，每字為一印，火燒令堅。先設一鐵版，其上以松脂臘和紙灰之類冒之。欲印則以一鐵範置鐵板上，乃密布字印。滿鐵範為一板，持就火煬之，藥稍鎔，則以一平板按其面，則字平如砥。若止印三、二本，未為簡易；若印數十百千本，則極為神速。常作二鐵板，一板印刷，一板已自布字。此印者纔畢，則第二板已具。更互用之，瞬息可就。每一字皆有數印，如之、也等字，每字有二十餘印，以備一板內有重複者。不用則以紙貼之，每韻為一貼，木格貯之。有奇字素無備者，旋刻之，以草火燒，瞬息可成。不以木為之者，木理有疏密，沾水則高下不平，兼與藥相粘，不可取。不若燔土，用訖再火令藥鎔，以手拂之，其印自落，殊不沾汙。昇死，其印為余群從所得，至今保藏。

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版印书籍，唐人尚未盛为之，自冯瀛王始印五经，已后典籍，皆为版本。庆历中，有布衣毕昇，又为活版。其法用胶泥刻字，薄如钱唇，每字为一印，火烧令坚。先设一铁版，其上以松脂蜡和纸灰之类冒之。欲印则以一铁范置铁板上，乃密布字印。满铁范为一板，持就火炀之，药稍熔，则以一平板按其面，则字平如砥。若止印三、二本，未为简易；若印数十百千本，则极为神速。常作二铁板，一板印刷，一板已自布字。此印者才毕，则第二板已具。更互用之，瞬息可就。每一字皆有数印，如之、也等字，每字有二十余印，以备一板内有重复者。不用则以纸贴之，每韵为一贴，木格贮之。有奇字素无备者，旋刻之，以草火烧，瞬息可成。不以木为之者，木理有疏密，沾水则高下不平，兼与药相粘，不可取。不若燔土，用讫再火令药熔，以手拂之，其印自落，殊不沾污。昇死，其印为余群从所得，至今保藏。

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English translation by Claude (an AI)

Printing books from carved wooden blocks was not yet widely done in the Tang. It was only after Feng Dao, Prince of Ying, first printed the Five Classics that all the classics and books which followed came out in block editions. In the Qingli years there was a commoner named Bi Sheng who went further and made movable type. His method was to carve characters in sticky clay, each as thin as the rim of a coin. Each character was a single piece of type, which was baked in a fire to harden it. First he prepared an iron plate and covered it with a mixture of pine resin, wax and paper ash. When he wanted to print, he set an iron frame on the iron plate and packed the type close together inside it. A full frame made one forme. He held it near the fire to warm it, and when the mixture had softened a little, he pressed a flat board on the surface, so that the type became as level as a whetstone. For printing only two or three copies this was not a quick method, but for printing dozens, hundreds or thousands of copies it was wonderfully fast. He usually kept two iron plates: while one was printing, type was already being set on the other. As soon as one had been printed, the second was ready. Using them in turn, the work was done in no time. For every character there were several pieces of type, and for common characters such as zhi and ye there were more than twenty each, in case a character appeared more than once on the same forme. When the type was not in use it was labelled with paper, one label for each rhyme group, and stored in wooden cases. If a rare character came up for which no type had been made, it was carved on the spot and fired over a straw fire, and was ready in a moment. He did not make the type of wood because wood grain is dense in some places and loose in others, and when wet it swells unevenly; besides, it sticks to the mixture and cannot be lifted out. Fired clay was better. When the printing was finished, the plate was warmed again to soften the mixture, and with a brush of the hand the type fell away by itself, without any trace of dirt. After Bi Sheng died, his type passed into the hands of my kinsmen, and they keep it to this day.