The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 72 Already a celebrity
Wang Wenlong was quite enthusiastic when he heard that Wei Shaojie wanted to buy books from him. The main purpose was to promote his wax printing technology.

He asked Wei Shaojie: "Are you willing to publish my new book?"

Wei Shaojie smiled and nodded, "Mr.'s name is extremely loud in Sanwu. As long as the book with your name on it is engraved in Sanwu, it will definitely sell well."

Wang Wenlong felt something was wrong. What he wanted to sell was a calligraphy instruction book, which had little to do with "History of Portugal".

He asked Wei Shaojie doubtfully: "Sir, have you read my new book?"

Wei Shaojie rolled his eyes and said with a flattering smile: "As long as it is a book written by Mr., it must be good."

Well, Wang Wenlong finally understood that this guy came to buy the manuscript of his new book without even looking at it.

He took the "European Regular Script 92 Method" from Xu Xinggong's hand and handed it to Wei Shaojie.

"The new thing I wrote is a calligraphy book for beginners."

Wei Shaojie flipped through the book and was stunned. He was silent for a long time, then raised his head and asked Wang Wenlong: "Sir, can you write more prefaces before and after this book?"

Both Wang Wenlong and Xu Xinggong couldn't help but laugh. Obviously Wanjuanlou still wanted to use the reputation of "History of Portugal" to sell books. Even if it was a calligraphy guide, Wang Wenlong had to write it in the preface so that it could be copied easily.

Wang Wenlong was a little surprised. Could it be that his "History of Portugal" had such a great influence in Nanjing that it could attract Wei Shaojie to come all the way to request a manuscript.

"Writing the preface is not difficult, but this book needs to be printed by the bookstore I cooperate with using wax printing."

Wang Wenlong got up and took Wei Shaojie to the outhouse, opened a wax plate printing machine and introduced this printing method to Wei Shaojie.

"If you want to cooperate with me, the fee for the book can be negotiated, but you must use this wax plate for printing. The wax paper and ink required for printing are produced in my workshop."

From Fuzhou via the Minjiang River, across Jianshui, and then by land to Zhejiang, it is very convenient to reach the entire Sanwu. Jianyang Bookstore’s books can be sold externally through this channel, and Wang Wenlong’s printing raw materials can be sold through this channel. This route to Nanjing is still profitable, and partners can also earn huge profits through wax printing.

But when Wei Shaojie heard this, his expression gradually became hesitant.

"Mr. Wang, our Wanjuan Tower has always maintained a group of excellent engravers. Mr. Xu may have never read our books. In fact, our engravers can still engrave copybooks, and the effect is much better than this wax plate printing."

Wang Wenlong shook his head and said: "The cost of my wax printing is less than one percent of that of woodblock printing."

Wei Shaojie was still hesitant after hearing this. Books in this era were expensive, and the bookshop was equivalent to luxury goods trade. Wanjuanlou was still the old bookshop idea. Wei Shaojie used Wang Wenlong's lower cost price and far lower price than ordinary people. The proposal to sell books in large quantities at book prices is somewhat dubious.

He always feels that there are so many people in the world who want to buy books. Selling books too cheap will definitely greatly affect the profits of the bookstore.

"We can pay more for the manuscript, but we don't need wax printing."

Wei Shaojie was still pulling here, when he heard another knock on the door.

"Please come in."

A carver walked in: "Sir, Boss Wang from Huancui Hall is here."

Wang Wenlong nodded quickly, "Invite him in."

"I, Wang Shilu, from Huizhou, heard that Mr. Wang has written a copybook for sale, and our Huancui Hall is willing to print it."

Wei Shaojie was shocked. They were all in the book engraving world, so he naturally knew the name of Huancui Tang.Wang Wenlong also knew the name of this bookstore and quickly asked Wang Shilu: "Who are you, Wang Tingna?"

Wang Shilu smiled and said, "That is my nephew."

Wang Wenlong and Xu Xinggong looked at each other and held back their smiles before handing over to each other.

Wang Shiheng, the owner of Huancui Hall, is the largest calligrapher in Huizhou. The books engraved by his Huancui Hall are based on meticulously crafted Hui-style prints and are of very high quality.

Wang Shiheng's son Wang Tingna is more famous than his father.

Like Wang Wenlong, this guy couldn't pass the examination as a scholar, so he bought the title of supervisor. However, this guy was very good at business and had a fortune of tens of millions, so he used various channels to make friends with celebrities and scholars.

When Wang Wenlong became a prison student, he didn't even know where to open the gate of the Imperial College, but Wang Tingne seized this opportunity.

This guy made extensive friends with the gentry in Nanjing on the pretext of studying in the Imperial College of Nanjing. He first went to the Imperial College to offer wine and give him a nickname, and then went to the Nanjing Minister of Rites to give him a nickname.

Of course, it was all done with money. After that, Wang Tingne regarded himself as a scholar and spent a lot of money to make friends with celebrities.

All of these people helped Huancui Hall engrave books, and of course they only signed their names. The specific work was still handled by the lower-level literati in Huancui Hall.

From this, Huancui Tang has built a real high-end reputation, and unlike Yu Xiangdou, Yu Xiangdou Shuangfeng Tang's "Pin Cui" series claims to be elegant, but in fact it is just some superficial popular science books.

Huancuitang wrote "Huancuitang Yuefu", "Mr. Zuiyin's Precise Shortcuts to the Game Score", and "The Mirror of Yangqiu", which are either chess, calligraphy and painting, or philosophy of life.

Moreover, the Wang family attaches great importance to the style of their works. For example, the chess records published by their family only have more than 100 pages of chess records in total. However, there are 24 pages of prefaces written by celebrities at the front of the book, and at the end of the book there are mentions by officials and celebrities. More than 300 articles.

Most real celebrities will not read this thing, but it is very attractive to those scholars who are neither good nor bad, as well as landlords and businessmen who think they are elegant.

To put it bluntly, it is the petty bourgeoisie reading material of this era, equivalent to fashion magazines on luxury cars and watches.

Not to mention that this thing is hypocritical, the sales of the Huancuitang series of books are really good, and Wang Tingne even became famous because of it.

Don't laugh at him. He is just a prison student and cannot be an official. That was the thinking of the middle and early Ming Dynasty. The social atmosphere at this time was much more open. Wang Tingne often interacted with famous people, and over time he gained the status of a famous person.

A few years later, he would donate a salt official, and he would successfully complete the transformation from a wealthy man and a celebrity to a noble family.

And Wang Wenlong even knew that a hundred years later some of his book inscriptions were found to be forgeries.

For example, there are more than 300 inscriptions by famous people at the back of his chess records. Some of them were directly copied by Huancuitang from the letters of famous people at that time, and they were interpreted as inscriptions given to him by famous people.

And as his fame grew, people carried him in sedan chairs, but no one really tried to expose him.

I have to say that the sprouts of capitalism did appear during the Wanli period, and the limitations of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce were being broken. There are many things that can be done with money these days.

At this time, Wang Wenlong also realized that the Wang family came to ask for manuscripts, which showed that he was indeed famous, and now he was actually considered one of the celebrities.

Wei Shaojie on the side was dumbfounded. He felt that coming from Nanjing was an exaggeration, but he didn't expect that there was a further distance.

Wei Shaojie felt nervous in his heart instantly, fearing that this opportunity for cooperation would be snatched away by others.

(End of this chapter)