“帝纪”怎么就成了第一?

How Could the “Records of Emperors” Be in First Order?

目前所知存世最早的《后汉书》刻本“北宋刻递修本”应该保留了更多范晔写定的原貌,其“帝纪第一”这样的篇第排列镌记形式与后世刻本有所不同。种种史料证明,后世的刻书对旧有版本的书名、篇名刊刻形式作了改动。对比不同时代的同类纪传体史书的标记形式,这一改动应当同书帙性质的改变有直接关联。在书籍由竹木简书转入纸卷时代之后,其装帧制度发生了显著变化,并引起篇名、次第和书名的标记形式也发生改变。探寻这样看似简单的表象之下所潜存的历史脉动,有助于更为清晰地看到历史的真实面目。

As far as we know,the earliest extant edition of the Book of the Later Han is a "re-mended block-printed one in the Northern Song Dynasty",which may have retained more of the original appearance written by Fan Ye. The arrangement of the"records of emperors"in first order in this edition is different from that of later editions in engraving form. According to all sorts of historical evidence,it has been proved that the later engravings modified the book name and the form of chapter title of the old editions. By contrast with the marking forms of similar biographical history books in different times,this modification should be directly related to the changes in book nature. After books were transformed from bamboo inscribed wooden slips to paper rolls,their binding system had undergone remarkable changes and brought about changes in the marking forms of chapter title,chapter order and book title. To explore the historical pulse underlying such a seemingly simple appearance will help us see the history as it really is.