中华即拍 《本草纲目》

《本草纲目》定稿时，李时珍已年过花甲，数十年努力的结晶，最大的心愿就是早日将它刻印出版，发挥社会效用。可是，这部极富科学价值的190万字巨著，尚未为时人所识，一时很难找到承印的书商，没有名家的赞许与政府的支持，私人刻印此书多有风险。他到过蕲州、黄州和武昌，都无功而返。倾其毕生心血撰成此书，却无人识“君”，长期积压案头，这对于李时珍来说是莫大的伤心。

When "Compendium of Materia Medica" was finalized, Li Shizhen was over 60 years old and had been the fruit of decades of hard work. His greatest wish was to print and publish it as soon as possible so as to play a social role. However, this 1.9 million-word masterpiece of great scientific value has not yet been known by people. It is difficult to find a bookseller to print it. Without the approval of famous artists and the support of the government, it is risky to print the book privately. He has been to Qizhou, Huangzhou and Wuchang without success. He devoted all his life to writing this book, but no one knew the "monarch" and kept a long backlog of books. This is a great sadness to Li Shizhen.

李时珍看到自己的著作在湖北家乡无法刻印，便于1579年赴南京寻求出版。南京是当时全国刻印书籍的中心，文化事业相当繁荣。他怀揣希望，但事情的进展并不顺利，找过几个刻书家洽谈，都没有满意的答复。次年九月，李时珍去太仓拜访当时的文坛领袖、著名学者王世贞，请他为《本草纲目》作序，“愿乞一言，以托不朽”。王世贞曾在湖广做过按察使，同李时珍虽不相识，却时有耳闻，故欣然答应。

Seeing that his works could not be printed in his hometown in Hubei, Li Shizhen went to Nanjing in 1579 to seek publication. Nanjing was the center of engraving books in the country at that time, and cultural undertakings were quite prosperous. He was hopeful, but things didn't go smoothly. He looked for several scribes to discuss and didn't get a satisfactory answer. In September of the following year, Li Shizhen went to Taicang to visit Wang Shizhen, the then literary leader and famous scholar, and asked him to write a preface to Compendium of Materia Medica, "I would like to beg for a word to uphold immortality". Wang Shizhen once made a provincial judge in Huguang. Although he did not know Li Shizhen, he heard of it from time to time, so he readily agreed.

虽然南京之行，联系刻书事宜未有着落，但收获还是不小。一来请到王世贞作序，他在序中盛赞《本草纲目》“实性理之精微，格物之通典，帝王之秘箓，臣民之重宝”，这对该书出版应起到一个很好的推介。二来走访了南京的药王庙，这里汇集全国各地的药物，机会难得，他一一做了记录，对其书稿颇有补正之用。

Although the visit to Nanjing did not result in any contact and inscription, the harvest was not small. First, please go to Wang Shizhen to make a preface. In the preface, he praised "Compendium of Materia Medica" as "the essence of real nature, the general canon of materials, the secret of emperors, and the treasure of subjects", which should be a good introduction to the publication of the book. Secondly, he visited the Yaowangmiao in Nanjing, where medicines from all over the country were collected. It was a rare opportunity. He made records one by one, which was useful for correcting his manuscripts.

李时珍从南京回到湖北老家，一晃又近10年。这期间政局动荡，前有张居正改革遭压，后有家乡爆发农民起义。在这样的情势下，《本草纲目》的刻印就更加困难。其间，他又赴南京联系刻印《本草纲目》一事。

Li Shizhen returned to his hometown in Hubei from Nanjing for another 10 years. During this period, the political situation was turbulent, with Zhang Juzheng's reforms under pressure before and peasant uprisings in his hometown after. Under such circumstances, it is even more difficult to print Compendium of Materia Medica. In the meantime, he went to Nanjing to contact the engraving of Compendium of Materia Medica.

1590年，完稿已12年的《本草纲目》终于得到南京藏书家兼出版商胡承龙的青睐，他感到这部书很有价值，愿意出钱刻印。30年的辛劳，总算得遇知音，这对古稀之年的李时珍是莫大的安慰。可惜这种喜悦来得太晚，不久李时珍就病倒，未及三年便卒于家，临终前未能亲眼所见自己写就的著作问世。1596年，李时珍的夙愿成真，《本草纲目》刻印大功告成。

In 1590, the 12-year-old Compendium of Materia Medica finally won the favor of Nanjing bibliophile and publisher Hu Chenglong, who felt that the book was valuable and was willing to pay for the inscription. After 30 years of hard work, I finally met a bosom friend, which is a great comfort to Li Shizhen in seventy years of age. It's a pity that this joy came too late. Soon Li Shizhen fell ill and died in less than three years. Before his death, he could not see with his own eyes the works he had written. In 1596, Li Shizhen's long-cherished wish came true and Compendium of Materia Medica was successfully printed.

《本草纲目》不仅在药物学方面有巨大成就，在化学、地质、天文等方面，都有突出贡献。它在化学史上，较早地记载了纯金属、金属、金属氯化物、硫化物等一系列的化学反应。同时又记载了蒸馏、结晶、升华、沉淀、干燥等现代化学中应用的一些操作方法。

Compendium of Materia Medica has made great achievements not only in pharmacology, but also in chemistry, geology and astronomy. In the history of chemistry, it recorded a series of chemical reactions of pure metals, metals, metal chlorides, sulfides, etc. earlier. At the same time, some operating methods applied in modern chemistry such as distillation, crystallization, sublimation, precipitation and drying are also recorded.

古籍善本作为不可再生的稀缺资源，只会越来越少，而其中所包含的文献和文物价值实是难以估量，其价格自然稳步上升。而其收藏者的队伍越来越庞大。古籍善本的大买家往往是具有一定财力的收藏家，主要瞄准精品，一旦买入短期内就很难会再卖出，这样使得市场上的精品在一个时期内相对慢慢减少。可以说经过十余年的拍卖，很多真正意义上的善本经过一轮的易手，目前已经越来越难以在市场上见到了。物以稀为贵，货源量的减少和需求量的增加自然促成了价格的稳步上升，具有非常大的升值空间。

As a non-renewable scarce resource, rare editions of ancient books will only become less and less, and the value of the documents and cultural relics contained in them is incalculable, and their prices will naturally rise steadily. And the ranks of its collectors are getting larger and larger. Large buyers of rare ancient books are usually collectors with certain financial resources, mainly aiming at fine works. Once they buy them, it is difficult to sell them again in a short period of time, thus making the fine works in the market relatively slowly decrease over a period of time. It can be said that after more than 10 years of auction, many real good books have changed hands after a round of changes, and it has become increasingly difficult to see in the market. Thinning is the most expensive thing. The decrease in supply and the increase in demand naturally contribute to a steady rise in prices, with great room for appreciation.