元代刻本是否“字多赵体”?

Was the Typeface of Yuan Editions“Mostly in Zhao Style”?

目前版本学界对于元代与明初版刻字体总体风格之描述还存有一些争议,然而大部分版本学家皆认为元代中期至明初时期的刻本“字多赵体”。但是,通过全面考察易见的元明刻本实物与已经公布的书影、图录等材料,仔细分析其版刻字体之风格,并以计量方法进行统计分析,可以发现事实并非如此。具体而论,元初刻本有闽本、浙本、平水本等较大的版刻系统,各个系统之字体皆沿袭宋金风貌而稍有融合变化;赵字刻本元代中期出现,至明初方在一定范围内较为流行;元明时期的赵字刻本可分为两种类型,因其相对而言不便刊刻,故而从未成为一时版刻之主流。

Although there are still some ongoing debates on the type style of Yuan and early Ming book editions,most scholars consider the typeface of Yuan and early Ming editions“mostly in Zhao style.”However,through a close examination of the accessible physical books and their photos,after carefully analyzing each edition's typeface,and deriving methodology from quantitative research,it can be found that this“common sense”on the typeface of Y uan and early Ming editions is not accurate.In early Yuan,the typefaces of most imprints were not dominated by the Zhao style,but inherited those of the Southern Song dynasty,yet slightly changed.The Zhao style emerged during the mid-and late-Yuan period and generally employed by more editions within a relatively small region in early Ming.There were two kinds of Zhao-style typefaces,but neither of them became the dominated one,because both of them are not easy to carve.