Colossal: The World's Oldest Multicolored Print Book has been Opened and Digitized for the First Time

The earliest example of multicolor printing is now available for the public eye, digitally available through Cambridge University Library's Digital Library Site. The 17th century book, Manual of Calligraphy and Painting (Shi zhu zhai shu hua pa), is so fragile that it was previously forbidden to be opened, its content a total mystery before its recent digitization...

The Cambridge site explains that although the skill required to achieve such douban prints is admirable, the gradations of color within the book is what led to its reputation as "perhaps the most beautiful set of prints ever made"...