Originated from the Tang Dynasty, Jinling inscription carving & printing skill is a local traditional manual skill in Nanjing, City, Jiangsu; in 1866 (the 5th year of Tongzhi Period in the Qing Dynasty), the founder Yang Renshen etc. of China’s modern Buddhist culture revitalization established a place of Jinling inscription carving to inherit Jinling inscription carving & printing skill.
The circulated Confucian classics are carved and printed by Jinling inscription carving & printing skill which is precise and sophisticated, the carved Confucian classics are mostly small square copies in thread-bound edition, and there are certain specifications on the format including the width between the top and bottom margins of a page and the center joint alignment line.
As for the Confucian classics carved and printed by the skill, the selection of works is refined and strict, the contents are pure, the emendation is precise, the format is clear, the characters are big and pleasant to eyes, the carving and printing is sophisticated and the paper & ink are superior. It has combined China’s traditional woodblock printing technique and Buddhist culture, Buddhist art, forming a particular carving and printing style concurrently covering religion, art, and cultural relic.
The carving copy of Jinling inscription carving & printing skill has unified format, namely each page has 20 lines, each line has 20 characters in old Song typeface, the finished book is 25cm long and16cm wide; for the inside pages, the top margin is 6cm and the foot margin is 2—2.5cm. Jinling inscription carving & printing skill is not simple reprinting only, but also has unified sentences and phrases to facilitate understanding for readers.
“Jinling inscription carving & printing skill” mainly includes three contents: cutting blocks for printing, printing and bookbinding.
