The letter is in an eerie color for 300 years

Preserved at Cambridge University, England, the world's oldest color printing book is still in its original form after more than 300 years.

Finding the world's oldest color print book still remains intact as new

When Cambridge University library staff, England, opened the book, they were amazed. "We were surprised by the new images in the book, as if no one had seen them for more than 300 years, " said Charles Aylmer, the head of the Chinese gallery at the library.

The book has a total of 388 pages, including 138 beautiful coloring pages and sketches of 50 painters and calligraphers and accompanying titles.

Drawings with realistic watercolors were done for decades until enough to combine into one book.

The book is called Shi zhu zhai shu hua pu , a guide to calligraphy and painting , created by artisan in Thap Truc printing factory in 1633 in Nanjing, China.

This book from the early 17th century is the oldest surviving edition, and it's 'unique in full, in perfect preservation and original covers'.

The book is preserved in the safest place in the library. It was built in the "butterfly " style , a traditional Chinese technique in which the pages were printed on one side and stuck together, so it was very fragile.

For more than 14 days, the library's most experienced staff carefully turned each page to discover its secrets and digitize images.

Aylmer said the process did not cause any damage to the book, and now it has returned to storage.The result is a full set of images ready for anyone to explore and they become the focus of attention on the library site since the announcement last month.

The images look like watercolors, but the reality is the crystallization of sophisticated woodblock printing.The original painting of the artist is glued down on pear wood or some other fine grain wood.The parts without textures will be removed, creating a floating picture, then the printer will spread the ink and use it as a printout.If more than one color is needed, the printer will prepare many blocks of wood and the painting will be printed with different inks.

This technique is called "multicolor wood carving technique" or "douban" .Its inventor Hu Zhengyan (1584-1674), the artist and book publisher, founded the workshop in Thap Truc.This is the oldest book using multicolor woodblock prints.

According to Aylmer, the book is intended for use in teaching, with detailed instructions on using palm techniques, especially in orchid drawing.

The book is owned by George Evans Moule, a bachelor of Cambridge University, England.Moule went to China in 1858 to teach and became the first bishop in central China in 1880. After Moule died, the book was written by his son Arthur Christopher Moule, a Chinese professor at the University of Cambridge. , donated to the school library.