明末士人在討論時文評選興盛的源頭時，都不約而同地指向一種特定的出版體裁──房稿，但學界對於房稿所知卻極為有限。完整的房稿結集已經失傳，現有研究往往只從晚明的記載作猜測，對於房稿的定義因此莫衷一是。事實上，晚明士人文集收錄不少相關的序文，提供眾多零散但關鍵的資訊，遠超於近人研究所引述的晚明各家記載。本文根據百餘篇房稿及其衍生出版的序文，重構房稿興起與轉型的歷史，作者、編者、刊行評選者之間的關係，刊行時間與數量等慣例，以及當事人們如何理解房稿刊行與評選的影響力。釐清其間的種種問題，有三方面的意義：首先，透過掌握當時人特有的術語，我們才能確切地掌握時文風潮在晚明士人心目中的確切樣態；其次，對於書籍史的研究來說，房稿的案例說明，已經散失的出版物在歷史上往往有關鍵位置，不應因為沒有原本流傳輕易放過，而仍然可以旁敲側擊的方式進行探討；最後，透過房稿這個看似細微，實則關鍵的制度考證問題，本文將補足現有關於時文風潮研究所無法解釋之處，並嘗試提出理解晚明思想文化的另一種進路。

When tracing the origin of the boom in examination essays they had been experiencing, scholars in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties often focused on a specific genre of examination publication-the "ward essay" 房稿. The exact nature of this essay form, however, remains unclear in literature on the late imperial examination system and history of publishing, which is not least because of the lack of surviving copies of ward essays. To reconstruct the practices surrounding ward essays and the enormous impact they made in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the present paper draws on more than one hundred prefaces written for ward essay publications scattered in late Ming literary collections. These prefaces, with a close and contextualized reading, provide crucial information regarding the practices and conventions in the publication and circulation of ward essays, as well as contemporary ideas on the authority of examiners, successful examinees, and professional examination critics who had not necessarily obtained high degrees from the examination system. By apprehending the obscure history of ward essays, this paper demonstrates the importance of evanescent publications in research on books, book production, and culture. It also provides a new explanation for the late Ming boom of essays which compliments current accounts on the late Ming culture of imperial examinations.