《汉书·艺文志·序》“每一书已……录而奏之”考辨

A Textual Research on "Writing an Index for Each Book by Himself" in the Preface to Yiwenzhi of Hanshu

就字面而言,《汉书·艺文志·序》"每一书已,向辄条其篇目,撮其指意,录而奏之"是指刘向为所整理的每一部书都撰写了"书录",然而实际上刘向并没有为每一部书都撰写"书录",所谓"每一书已……录而奏之"只是一种概略的说法。《汉志》六略中《六艺》及《诸子》类的书籍绝大多数都撰有"书录";《诗赋略》的书籍只有小部分撰写了"书录";《兵书略》的书籍则绝大多数都撰写了"书录",而且主要为杨仆所撰写完成;《数术略》与《方技略》也只有少部分书籍撰写了"书录"。对于那些没有撰写"书录"的书籍,刘向则对其书名进行记载,其中有些并记载了篇名,有些则没有记载篇名,且均没有上奏给皇帝以供阅览。

Literally speaking,"when sorting out a book,Liu Xiang would always arrange its table of contents,summarize its main meaning,write an index and present it to the emperor"in the Preface to Yiwenzhi of Hanshumeans that Liu Xiang wrote bibliographies for all the books that he compiled.However,this is not the case,and theabovementioned quote cannot be taken true word by word.Most of the books in the categories of Six Arts and ThePhilosophers in the book are supplemented with book indexes;few books in the category of Poetry and Prose is withbook indexes;most books in the category of Books on the Art of War are with book indexes written by Yang Pu;andonly a small number of books in the categories of Fortune and Alchemy and Medicine are with book indexes.For bookswithout indexes,Liu Xiang recorded their titles,and tables of contents of some of the books,and failed to present them toemperors for review.