British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
A HUNDRED YEARS OF DUNHUANG, 1907-2007
Abstracts
Dunhuang and the history of the Chinese book
Jean-Pierre Drège
Up to the present, the researches on the history of the Chinese book did not use very much the manuscripts and the prints discovered in the Dunhuang grottoes. However this material is dated from the very important period of transition between the manuscript and the printed book, between the scroll and the butterfly bound book, i.e. in the 8th-10th centuries. The weight of the Dunhuang documents in this technological and cultural revolution has to be appraised anew and will be supported here firmly. The consequences on reading habits, on texts understanding and even texts writing cannot be underestimated.