鼓詞的起源雖然很早，但其興盛則在明、清之際，入清之後尤其大盛。原來起自北方，而及於江南，而與彈詞相互滲透影響。原為口頭說唱，漸變而傳抄、刊印、發行，至清末民初因西洋石印法傳入，尤利於影印縮版，於是袖珍本之繡像鼓詞大量刊行，其數量之多竟有與繡像小說並駕齊驅之勢。自西潮東漸，新文藝風起雲湧，鼓詞與傳統小說遂告衰落，民國二十年後不復見有新鼓詞創作。而歷經百年，鼓詞舊作亦零落難尋矣。今將十年蒐羅所得一百三十種，一一為之敘錄，繼而進行整體之研究，而擬以本篇冠其首也。本篇首先敘述蒐藏及整理經過，其次敘述對鼓詞之認識，兼及鼓詞之流通，綜論所藏百卅種鼓詞呈現之歷史意義，以及由出版鼓詞之書店商號集中於上海之地緣意義。再探討鼓詞刊本之特色，分別針對版本上之「繡像」與「繪圖」、體制上之「說」與「唱」、以及內容上之「故事題材」等三層次加以論述。最後綜述百卅種鼓詞敘錄方式及心得。

In spite of its early origin, the literary work of Drum Words began to prevail in the years between the Ming and Ching dynasties and reached its popularity especially in the Ching Dynasty. Originated in the North and spread to the south of the Yang-tze River, Drum Words intermingled with Tan Words through mutual permeation and influence. The literary work of Drum Words had undergone its gradual transformation from oral telling-singing, manuscript copywriting, printing to publication. In the late Ching and early republic years, when the stone-printing method was introduced from the West as a convenient measure for reduced copying, plenty of mini-sized scripts of Figure Drum Words were published. The large quantity of figure-graph scripts of Drum Words was even comparable to that of Figures-in-action novels. However, with the rise of the New Literature Movement under Western influence, Drum Words and traditional novels fell into decline. No creation of Drum Words has been found since the twentieth year of the republic. And it is quite difficult to locate the old scripts printed during the past hundred years. Personally I have collected one hundred and thirty kinds of Drum Words and decided to narrate them one by one in order to conduct an overall study. This general narration is intended to be the first of all narrations in the whole project. It begins with a narrative of the process of collection and arrangement. And then it describes the knowledge and circulation of Drum Words with a general narration on the historic meaning of the one hundred and thirty kinds of Drum Words as well as on the geographic meaning of the concentration of Drum Words bookstores in Shanghai. Moreover, it continues to explore the characteristics of Drum Words scripts from three perspectives: “figure-graph” and “figure-in-action-graph” editions, “telling” and “singing” forms, and “subject matters” in the contents. Finally it concludes with a general description of the methods for the narration of the one hundred and thirty kinds of Drum Words and my learning experience in the creation of this narration.