从文字系统的变异程度看,唐代至清代《文心雕龙》版本的演变呈现出明显的阶段性特点,可以将其分成五期,何本、梅本、黄本代表了文字系统变异的三次重要转折;《文心雕龙》版本流传既存在多个源头,又有单线衍生,前人对凌本、梁本、合刻本、秘书本、崇文本等版本底本来源的判断不够确切,需要重新加以考定;至正本、训故本、梅本、黄本等自身也发生变异,先后形成了不同的版本类型,通行本黄本实际上有原刻本、改刻本、覆刻本三种形态;《文心雕龙》版本发展总体上呈现出校订越精影响越大的特点。

From the perspective of the degree of variations in the system of written characters, the evolution of the editions of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons (《文心雕龙》) from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty shows obvious characteristics of phases, which can be divided into five stages. The appearances of He’s Edition (何本), Mei's Edition (梅本), and Huang’s Edition (黄本) respectively represented three important turning points of the variations in the system of written characters.The spreading of the editions of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons had not only multiple sources, but also single-line derivatives. As the previous judgments on the sources of the original text of Ling’s Edition (凌本), Liang’s Edition (梁本), Heke’s Edition (合刻本), Mishu’s Edition (秘书本), and Chongwen’s Edition (崇文本) were not accurate enough, they need to be re-evaluated. Zhizheng’s Edition (至正本), Xungu’s Edition (训故本), Mei’s Edition, and Huang’s Edition also went through variations themselves, forming different types of editions successively. The circulated Huang’s Edition actually had three forms: original block-printed edition (原刻本), revised block-printed edition (改刻本) and block-reprinted edition (覆刻本). On the whole, the evolution of various editions of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons shows that the more precisely collations were made, the greater influence they produced.