The Ming dynasty was the last great Chinese dynasty before the Manchu conquest in 1644. During that time, China, not Europe, was the center of the world: the European voyages of exploration were searching not just for new lands but also for new trade routes to the Far East. In this book, Timothy Brook eloquently narrates the changing landscape of life over the three centuries of the Ming (1368-1644), when China was transformed from a closely administered agrarian realm into a place of commercial profits and intense competition for status.
The Confusions of Pleasure marks a significant departure from the conventional ways in which Chinese history has been written. Rather than recounting the Ming dynasty in a series of political events and philosophical achievements, it narrates this longue durée in terms of the habits and strains of everyday life. Peppered with stories of real people and their negotiations of a rapidly changing world, this book provides a new way of seeing the Ming dynasty that not only contributes to the scholarly understanding of the period but also provides an entertaining and accessible introduction to Chinese history for anyone.

天工开物》是中国古代一部综合性的科学技术著作，也是世界上第一部关于农业和手工业生产的综合性著作，被欧洲学者称为“技术的百科全书”。它对中国古代的各项技术进行了系统地总结，构成了一个完整的科学技术体系。对农业方面的丰富经验进行了总结，全面反映了工艺技术的成就。书中记述的许多生产技术，一直沿用到近代。
作者是明朝宋应星。初刊于明崇祯十年（1637年）。全书分为上、中、下三篇共十八卷，描绘了一百三十多项生产技术和工具的名称、形状、工序。
这部举世闻名的奇书，在它出版之后的二百多年间，却几乎不为国人所知，乾隆时所修的《四库全书》对它摒弃不顾，而除了官修的《授时通考》之外，此间的学者包括那些顶级的国学大师，也从来就没在自己的著作中引用过它的一个字。奇怪的是，它在东邻日本和朝鲜却被奉为宝笈，接着欧洲也从日本得到了它的日本刻本，然后开始出现它的多种译本，并视为中国科技史的小百科全书。而中国再次单独重印此书，即已经是二百多年后的二十世纪的事了。让人感到奇怪的是，现存《天工开物》的十几个版本中，外国人的却占了大多数，这在中国古籍中大约是太少见了。这部让我们国人引为豪的名著，对大多数人来说还只是熟于耳闻而鲜于目睹。现在看来，如果只把《天工开物》看成中国科技史的名著，显然是不够的，它同时也是中国文化史、思想史的名著。书中说的是“开物”，却贯穿着中国的传统文化，而其中的一切正是中华民族博大精深的文明基础。我们可以向读者承诺，如果把此书通读一遍，稍加深思，就一定会对中华文明的精髓多一层体验。

《农政全书》的主导思想是“富国必以本业”，所以他把《农事》三卷放在全书之前。其中《经史典故》引经据典阐明农业立国之本；《诸家杂论》则引诸子百家言证明古来以农为重；此外兼收冯应京《国朝重农考》，其意皆在“重农”。徐光启的“农本”思想，不但符合泱泱农业大国既往之历史，而且未必无补于今时。当前，农业问题和农民问题仍然是国家决策的重要内容。从这一点出发，徐光启的“农本”思想仍有合理素可取用于现时。
《农政全书》是一部很有价值的古农书，尤如一座含金量很高的富矿有待进一步开发和利用，所以，岳麓书社适应形势发展之需要。决定刊行以简体字排版的新校注本《农政全书》。为广大读者提供一个既便于阅读与研究，又便于收藏的古典名著新版本，为弘扬优秀的优统文化做实实在在的工作，这无疑是有益于社会的事。

《利玛窦中国札记》主要撰写者是一位在中国生活了多年的欧洲人，他以灵敏的感受和一个旁观者的态度，详尽记录了在中国的传教经历。《利玛窦中国札记》共五卷，第一卷概述当是中国各方面情况；第二至五卷记叙传教士们（包括利玛窦本人）在中国的传教经历。因此，

郭沫若同志的《甲申三百年祭》，写于一九四四年，是为了纪念明朝末年李自成领导农民起义胜利三百周年而写的。这篇文章先在重庆《新华日报》发表，后来在延安和各解放区印成单行本。
伟大领袖毛主席一九四四年在《学习和时局》一文中曾指出：“我党历史上曾经有几次表现了大的骄傲，都是吃了亏的。”“全党同志对于这几次骄傲，几次错误，都要引为鉴戒。”又说：印行这篇文章的目的，“也是叫同志们引为鉴戒，不要重犯胜利时骄傲的错误。”

《王徴全集》正文共二十二卷，另有附录五种，插图约二百余幅，总计71万字。全书的正文可分为三大类，包括政事类六卷，学术类十二卷，诗文杂著类四卷；其中学术类又分儒学、天学类五卷，音学类一卷，制器学类六卷。此外，附录部分收录有有关王徴家族世系的史料、有关王徴年谱、王徴的传记资料、王徴著译序、跋、提要以及王徴著译的考辨等。

《奇器图说:诸种奇异器物的制作与使用》内容简介：明朝末年，西洋教士邓玉函与中国制器奇人王徵共撰的《奇器图说》，是西方机械制造学与中国古代日用器具制造结合的第一部专著。卷一讲述了有关重心、重力线、比重、浮力、压强等基本概念以及相关的定理、定律。卷二则把机械制造的常见元件分作六类，即天平、等子、杠杆、滑车、圆轮和螺旋等，并分别介绍了各自的使用原理和计算方法。卷三为实用器械的制作图，包括起重十一图，引重四图，转重二图，取水九图，转磨十五图，解木四图，解石、转碓、书架、水日晷、代耕各一图，水铳四图，总计五十四图，并附有详细说解。
为了便于当代读者轻松阅读并运用其中的知识，我们对全书进行了白话精译，并参考《诸器图说》补入了更多器具的制造原理和方法，是了解古代制器的全面读本。

The Chinese invented gunpowder and began exploring its military uses as early as the 900s, four centuries before the technology passed to the West. But by the early 1800s, China had fallen so far behind the West in gunpowder warfare that it was easily defeated by Britain in the Opium War of 1839–42. What happened? In The Gunpowder Age, Tonio Andrade offers a compelling new answer, opening a fresh perspective on a key question of world history: why did the countries of western Europe surge to global importance starting in the 1500s while China slipped behind?
Historians have long argued that gunpowder weapons helped Europeans establish global hegemony. Yet the inhabitants of what is today China not only invented guns and bombs but also, as Andrade shows, continued to innovate in gunpowder technology through the early 1700s—much longer than previously thought. Why, then, did China become so vulnerable? Andrade argues that one significant reason is that it was out of practice fighting wars, having enjoyed nearly a century of relative peace, since 1760. Indeed, he demonstrates that China—like Europe—was a powerful military innovator, particularly during times of great warfare, such as the violent century starting after the Opium War, when the Chinese once again quickly modernized their forces. Today, China is simply returning to its old position as one of the world’s great military powers.
By showing that China’s military dynamism was deeper, longer lasting, and more quickly recovered than previously understood, The Gunpowder Age challenges long-standing explanations of the so-called Great Divergence between the West and Asia.

State, Economy and the Great Divergence provides a new analysis of what has become the central debate in global economic history: the 'great divergence' between European and Asian growth. Focusing on early modern China and Western Europe, in particular Great Britain, this book offers a new level of detail on comparative state formation that has wide-reaching implications for European, Eurasian and global history.
Beginning with an overview of the historiography, Peer Vries goes on to extend and develop the debate, critically engaging with the huge volume of literature published on the topic to date. Incorporating recent insights, he offers a compelling alternative to the claims to East-West equivalence, or Asian superiority, which have come to dominate discourse surrounding this issue.
This is a vital update to a key issue in global economic history and, as such, is essential reading for students and scholars interested in keeping up to speed with the on-going debates.

西洋番国志　郑和航海图　两种海道针经，ISBN：9787101020250，作者：（明）巩珍著；向达校注向达整理向达校注

《西洋朝贡典录校注东西洋考》记录了明代与我国朝贡贸易关系的海外23个国家的情况，其中有些资料不见于他书，也可以校订《瀛涯》、《星搓》诸书，对研究明代的中外关系和航海史很有用处。样注本用最早的借月山房本校注整理。《东西洋考》记述了明中叶后期福建漳州开放海禁后，闽南地区对外贸易和海外交通迅速发展，反映了与漳州有关的海外23个国家的情况，其中有关西欧国家与中国的接触和东西二洋的针路的记述，都是珍贵资料，书后附有详细的地名索引。

明清时，中国没有发生欧美“工业革命”那种以机器大规模生产的经济变化，清末以前也并未出现“民主宪政”之类的法律与政治改革运动，但是仍然出现许多有意义的社会变迁。本书有系统地描述并论证明清中国经济与法律的发展历程及其历史意义，点出探究明清经济史的重要意义，提出明清中国也有商业法律的主张。
本书为使读者能容易理解当时中国经济与法律互动的复杂性，先介绍十六至十九世纪之间的中国经济变动趋势，以下各章展开对明清中国商业法律的说明与分析。作者将研究视角做了较大范围的扩充，不仅讨论处理市场交易、商事纠纷与商业契约的法律规范本身，也分析当时中国用以运作商业法律的制度变迁，更进一步将“非西方”地区的历史完整地纳入，以说明一些重要的经济与法律变迁究竟是如何逐渐由明清中国部分地区往外扩散至全国，进而改写了既有的近代世界经济史。