唐代图书价格考

The Exploration of Book Price in the Tang Dynasty

唐前期物价平稳,写本书价格一般为每卷100余文;唐后期,由于政治动荡、兵祸连年,物价飙升,写本书价格涨了10倍,为每卷1000文。随着雕版印刷技术逐渐步入历史舞台,因复制便利、发行量大,雕印图书价格一般每卷100余文,相当于手抄书价格的十分之一。这一比价自唐代确立后由宋至明未曾改变。

Commodity prices in the early Tang dynasty remain stable and generally speaking, each volume of handwritten books valued at more .than 100 wen. Due to the political turmoil and years of fighting in the late Tang dynasty, the prices were rising. And each volume of handwritten books were worth 1 000 wen, ten times that of the previous. With the appearance of printing technology in the stage of history, each volume of printed books valued at more than 100 wen because of copying facilities and large circulation. This equals to 1/10 of the price of the handwritten books. This parity had not changed from the Tang dynasty till the Ming dynasty.