Out of the antique city, Lin Yi chatted with the old man while following the old man in the direction of his house.

Through the chatter on the road, Lin Yi learned that the old man's surname was Wu, and he liked to paint when he was young, so he also bought a lot of painting books.

After arriving at his house, I saw that the place was not large, the furniture was old, a long cabinet with paint off, and a TV set was placed on it, but in addition, there were no household appliances, not even refrigerators and washing machines, but a table was placed in the largest part of the house, and the table was covered with rice paper, and there was a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone next to it, which looked like a desk.

Around the corner of the wall, there are all kinds of miscellaneous items, such as water tanks, stones, calligraphy and paintings, books, messy, it seems that the old man is playing very miscellaneous...... Among them, those "Ploughing" that are ready to be sold are placed underground.

After Lin Yi checked the book, he paid the money, and suddenly saw a book bound on the windowsill, so he asked the old man, "What kind of book is that?" Can you show me? ”

"Oh, that's the same book I bought when I was younger." While speaking, the old man walked to the bed, picked up the thread-bound book, walked back and handed it to Lin Yi.

Lin Yi took it and looked at it, and his eyes immediately lit up, it turned out to be an old picture album of more than five years, in good condition, up to about nine grades, the book mouth was neat, the spine was straight, and there was a photocopied handwritten title - "The Complete Biography of the Water Margin". Lin Yi first opened the copyright page of "The Complete Biography of the Water Margin": edited by Chen Qiming, People's Fine Arts Publishing House, published in 1955, one edition and one printing, with a print run of 6,000 copies.

The book photocopied all the illustrations of the Ming edition of Yang Dingjian's "The Complete Biography of the Water Margin of Zhongyi" in the collection of the Peking University Library, a total of 120 pieces, which is extremely finely drawn, which can be described as the white eyebrows among the many illustrations of "The Water Margin".

This book is finely printed with high-quality white thick cotton paper thread, paper, ink, printing are all good, and there is a concave and convex sense of woodblock brush printing when stroked by hand, the preface introduces the book version, and then there is an article on "Woodcut Prints of the Ming Dynasty and the Illustrations of the Water Margin", which introduces the development of Chinese printmaking and the artistic achievements of Ming Dynasty printmaking and the main content of the Zhongyi Water Margin.

The reason why Lin Yi is interested in this book is because he has seen it in "Taoshu Notes", which belongs to the category of "printmaking collection" with great potential.

Speaking of printmaking collection, has been lukewarm, in fact, the first to like and collect prints is the great writer Lu Xun, for this reason, Lu Xun also specially supported many modern printmakers, known as the "father of modern Chinese printmaking".

In addition to Lu Xun's vigorous support and attention to modern printmaking, he also gave great praise to traditional Chinese ancient prints, especially like to collect stone carvings of the Han Dynasty, but compared with Lu Xun, the one who loves ancient prints more is another cowman, he is Zheng Zhenduo.

In order to be able to collect his favorite ancient prints and organize them into books, Zheng Zhenduo traveled all over China's libraries, searching for printmaking illustrations of rare books of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and compiled the brilliant "Ancient Chinese Printmaking Series".

This set of 44 volumes, some of which are only 100 copies printed in special collections, are sprinkled with five letters. This complete set of prints was printed in 1959 and published in 1961 in the fifth letter, a period of three years.

In fact, when this set of books was first compiled, it was divided into one, two, three, and four parts, etc., and Zheng Zhenduo's meaning was very clear, that is, to compile this set of prints into a complete set of books like the Siku Quanshu, and collect the printmaking illustrations of various dynasties and dynasties to become a set of brilliant masterpieces. It's just a pity that due to Zheng Zhenduo's plane crash and untimely death, the publishing work was cut off, and only the first and second parts were published, totaling 44 volumes.

Among them, the most valuable are the special collections that only printed 100 volumes, such as the first and second volumes of "Giving Clothes and Training", which cost as much as 2,500 yuan; Upper, middle and lower three copies of "Praise of the Ancients of the Past Dynasties", the price is as high as 4,500 yuan; Three sets of "Lisao Map", the price is as high as about 5,000 yuan; A set of four copies of "Materia Medica" has a price of up to 6,000 yuan......

At this moment, the "Illustrations of the Complete Biography of the Water Margin" in Lin Yi's hand, although it does not belong to this series of prints, is a printmaking catalogue published separately when this series of books was published. To put it more bluntly, this book is the "illegitimate child" of the "Ancient Chinese Printmaking Series".

Unlike the sudden rise of new literature in the Republic of China in recent years, the collection of ancient prints has not yet become popular, but smart people know that books on this theme will be "popular" sooner or later.

In terms of age, although most of these books were photocopied in the fifties and even seventies, they have high collectible and artistic value. After all, most of the real copies of such books are collected in the national map, which is difficult for ordinary people to see, and if there is a photocopy in hand, you can also take it to appreciate and study.

What's more, ancient Chinese printmaking itself has a very powerful charm, whether it is the character lines, composition design, and the ancient artists' swords and axes.

Especially in this "Illustration of the Water Margin", I saw that most of the characters in it were composed with the mellow brushwork of Ming Dynasty painters, the characters were simple and lifelike, whether it was a beard or a placket, they were all meticulous, and even the forks of the beard could be seen in the smallest place, which shows how profound the artist's skills are.

It can be said that as long as you are a book lover, there is no one who does not like this kind of old printbook.

Therefore, many booksellers with brains have begun to hoard this rare and rare ancient printmaking book, like the monkey ticket that was once sluggish, and at some point, this kind of book will shine and make you a lot of money.

Think about it, when the printbook you bought for 1,000, 2,000, or even 3,000, 5,000 suddenly multiplied tenfold and became 10,000, 50,000, what was the situation?!

At least at this moment, Lin Yi can't put it down with this "Water Margin Complete Biography Illustrations", I remember it well, it is recorded in the "Taoshu Notes" that such a book needs at least seven or eight hundred yuan to buy in the hands of connoisseurs, and even thousands of good ones.

……

After appreciating it, Lin Yi put down the "Illustrations of the Complete Biography of the Water Margin" in his hand, and couldn't help but ask the old man: "Uncle, is this book sold?" ”

"Sell! These books are of little use to me now, and now I mainly look at picture books. As he spoke, the old man pointed to a hardcover and newly published large-format Chinese painting album on his cupboard, and then said: "That album cost me more than 300 yuan, all of which I saved by frugality." In two days, I will go to my son's house in Dalian, and I will have to sell my house. If you can't take these books with you, it's even more useless. But these books, after all, have been with me for so many years, and when it comes to selling, I am really a little reluctant. But you can't sell it. I can't go anywhere, so take them wherever I want! I want to sell them all. Change a few albums and take them to Dalian to see. If you put a price on this book, I'll sell it too. ”

After saying this, the old man picked up the book of "The Complete Biography of the Water Margin" again, flipped through it with his hand, and said: "I remember well, this book was bought when I was young when I was just working, and it cost almost 4 yuan and 2 cents at that time, I bought this book hungry, and I was reluctant to eat even the fritters in the factory in the morning." As if thinking of the past, the old man opened the conversation.

"At that time, this kind of book was not easy to buy, and the leaders of the factory had to give an explanation to prove that you were buying books for your own reading and for the needs of revolutionary work, not to sell them upside down; It depends on luck when you open a ticket, and you have to wait in line outside the Xinhua bookstore, and if you have it, you will sell it to you, and when you sell it out, you can only go back - I was lucky enough to grab a copy. Stroking the "Illustrations of the Complete Biography of the Water Margin" in his hand, the old man seemed to have returned to his youth when he loved literature and liked to buy books.

It was a fiery era, a revolutionary era, and for those of them who loved books, it was the best of times and the worst of times.

Looking at the old man's nostalgic eyes when he read these books, Lin Yi's heart was also a little uncomfortable.

"And how much do you always sell for?" Lin Yi asked a little abruptly. "It's worth 50 bucks." The old man hesitated and said. It can be seen that he is bold enough to say this price, and he, who has never sold a book, thinks that this price may be too high, and he is a little embarrassed.

Without waiting for Lin Yi to speak, the old man added, "If you are too high, 30 or 20 is fine, anyway, they will be sold......"

As soon as Lin Yi heard the old man say this, he smiled and said, "Your price is not high, this book is not worth 50 but is worth 500, if you want, I will give you 500 yuan." ”

"What are you talking about, young man, you, you're not kidding me, are you?" The old man's eyes widened, he had never seen such a book, everyone was trying to bargain, but this one increased the price from 50 to 500.

Lin Yi didn't explain, he directly took out 500 yuan from his pocket, stuffed it into the old man's hand, and then said to him earnestly: "Uncle, buy more books you like." ”

The old man took 500 yuan in a dream, looked at the money, and then looked at Lin Yi, and seemed to understand something.

Taking the 500 yuan in exchange for this book, the old man said to Lin Yi earnestly: "Child, I have never seen such a real person as you, you are the first one, those who came to me to collect books in the past, there was no one who did not bargain, but you ...... Alas, let's not say anything! ”

After that, the old man wanted to keep Lin Yi to eat at home, but after Lin Yi politely refused, he left the door of the old man's house.

On the way back to the antique city, for some reason, Lin Yi's mood was not happy.

In the eyes of many people, it seems a bit silly to miss 50 yuan and not pick it up, but would rather spend 500 yuan to buy a book. But in Lin Yi's view, being a human being sometimes has to be stupid once or twice. After all, there are many things to do in this world besides making money.

That's exactly what --

Why do you have to know each other when you meet,

The same is a book lover in the world!