Catalog of Ancient and Antique Maps in Chinese and Foreign Languages: 6,827 Items Held by the Beijing Library

Author: Wang Zhongmin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1997-12-01
Features: Preface to the Publication The posthumous work A Catalogue of Chinese Rare Books by the renowned expert in bibliographical studies, Wang Zhongmin, was published by Shanghai Guji Press in 1983. After the publication of A Catalogue of Chinese Rare Books, Wang's wife, Liu Xiuye, discovered a batch of previously uncollected manuscripts, including 770+ entries in the History section and 10 in the Philosophy section. Liu revised and compiled these manuscripts into A Supplement to the Catalogue of Chinese Rare Books and entrusted it to our publishing house for publication. The format of the supplement is largely consistent with that of the original catalog. During the compilation, minor errors were corrected, while the rest of the content remained as originally written.
Book and Literature Press, October 1990
Excerpt: A Supplement to the Catalogue of Chinese Rare Books
History Section - Biographical Records
Comprehensive Histories – 186 volumes, 151 copies (Complete Collection of the Four Treasuries, Volume 50) (National Library of China) Yuan edition [9 lines, 21 characters (29.2×19.5)] Written by Zheng Qiao of the Song Dynasty. This edition is missing 11, 18, 97, 103, 171, and 192–200, totaling 14 volumes. According to the National Library of China, five incomplete copies of this book exist, which can be pieced together to form a complete set. During the War of Resistance against Japan, to ensure the safety of rare ancient books, the National Library of China packed all the rare books into 300 boxes and transported them to Shanghai, storing them at the Science Society Library in the French Concession along Yalbei Road. Later, they were moved to the Chengdu Museum along Lvan Road. In June 1940, due to France's temporary defeat in World War II and the looming threat of Japanese searches in the French Concession, the director of the National Library of China, Yuan Tongli, sought assistance from Hu Shih, then the U.S. ambassador to China. After discussions, Hu Shih and Yuan Tongli decided to transport these rare books to the United States and store them in the Asian Division of the Library of Congress. Hu Shih later sent Wang Zhongmin to Shanghai to assess the situation and prepare for the transportation of these books. On February 5, 1941, Wang Zhongmin arrived in Shanghai at great risk to his life, successfully transporting the rare books. However, due to the Japanese control over China's customs at the time, the transportation of the books was challenging. Eventually, Wang Zhongmin spent three weeks opening the 300 boxes, selecting the best among them, and repacking them into 100 boxes, totaling 2,720+ species of books. Due to the Nationalist government's insufficient attention to China's cultural heritage, the process of transporting these 100 boxes out of Shanghai was delayed. Wang Zhongmin had to return to the United States in late May to discuss the matter with Hu Shih. After Yuan Tongli's efforts, the books were eventually transported to the United States. Wang Zhongmin then spent four years writing catalog entries for these 2,720+ books and creating microfilm copies, which are now stored in the Rare Book Room of the National Library of China. Wang Zhongmin made significant contributions to preserving China's precious ancient books.
After Wang Zhongmin's passing, I discovered that some of the catalog entries he had written had been lost while organizing his manuscripts. Due to the urgency of publication, I first compiled the catalog entries I had found into A Catalogue of Chinese Rare Books, which was edited by Mr. Yang Dianxun and Mr. Fu Zhenlun and published by Shanghai Guji Press in August 1983. In the spring of 1983, when I moved from the 10th apartment in Langrunyuan to the 34th floor of Yandongyuan, I further organized Wang Zhongmin's manuscripts and books and discovered additional 770+ entries in the History section and nearly 10 in the Philosophy section (detailed in the preface written by Mr. Fu Zhenlun at the beginning of the supplement). These are the entries included in the supplement, most of which are from the History section. After the supplement was compiled, Mr. Fu Zhenlun and Mr. Yang Dianxun reviewed the original drafts, Mr. Ding Yu and Mr. Chen Shaoye checked the text at the National Library of China and provided references for borrowing, Ms. Ji Shuying offered constructive suggestions on the arrangement of local chronicles, Mr. Pan Huiren compiled index cards, and Mr. Zang Jian compiled the index. The Book and Literature Press later published the supplement as a standalone volume, making Wang Zhongmin's catalog entries available to readers earlier.
The preface I have written largely adopts the wording from Mr. Cui Wenyin's Biography of Wang Zhongmin, which is included in Biographies of Modern Chinese Social Scientists (Volume 8), edited by the Jinyang Academic Journal Editorial Department of Shanxi Normal University Press and published in July 1987. I am grateful to Mr. Cui Wenyin for reviewing and refining the preface despite his busy schedule. I extend my sincere thanks to all the organizations and individuals mentioned above!
While in the United States, Wang Zhongmin also visited the Gestalt Oriental Library at Princeton University to appraise its collection of rare books and wrote catalog entries for 1,000 books. However, the manuscripts remained at the library. Later, Mr. Qu Wanli, who was invited by the library, compiled annotations for all the rare books and edited Wang Zhongmin's catalog entries, publishing them as A Catalogue of Chinese Rare Books at the Gestalt Oriental Library of Princeton University in 1974 by the Taiwan Arts and Literature Press. Therefore, these 1,000 catalog entries are not included in the supplement.
In the preface to the 1983 edition of A Catalogue of Chinese Rare Books, I mistakenly described the curriculum vitae of my brother-in-law, Professor Shi Youzhong. He originally taught English at Zhejiang University and later moved to the United States to teach Chinese literature and philosophy at the University of Washington in Seattle. I previously recorded him as teaching at the Chinese Department of Hangzhou University and mistakenly wrote that he taught at Seattle University in the United States. I sincerely apologize to Professor Shi Youzhong for this error.
Recorded by Liu Xiuye on the 15th anniversary of Wang Zhongmin's passing, April 16, 1990.