The Book Pulishing and Analysis of Modern Peking University Library（近代北京大学图书馆的图书出版与分析）

The paper is based on literature search, introducing and analyzing the book publishing situation of modern Peking University Library from the perspective of the publisher being Peking University Library and its predecessor. It is pointed out that the majority of the book printing methods published by the modern Peking University Library are lead printing, and among the types of Chinese library classification, catalogue of library collections is the most common.

Keywords:modern, Peking University Library, book publishing, history of publication, history of library

The predecessor of the Peking University Library was the book-storage building of Peking Imperial University (京师大学堂藏书楼). The book-storage building of Imperial University was established in parallel with the University, which was founded in July 1898. Its first supervisor was Li Zhaowei (李昭炜, 1836-?, the other name is Lichen/理臣, and the alias is Lichun/蠡莼), the transfer officer (提调官) (equivalent to the librarian). The first collection of nearly 50,000 volumes was basically destroyed in the Boxer Incident of 1900 (Yao, 2013). In October 1902, the Imperial University was restored after the disaster and a library building was rebuilt, collecting the old books of Confucian classics, local literature and some newly purchased Chinese and foreign old and new classics from the official bookstores of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, Hubei, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan, etc. In January 1904, the book-storage building should be renamed the library in accordance with “Presented University Regulation”(《奏定大学堂章程》), but still use the name of the book-storage building, that is, “in the building’s forehead, the name of the book-storage building is still used, and in the regulation is labeled library”.(Peking Imperial University, 1993) The supervisor in charge of the library building was renamed “library manager”. In May 1912, the Peking Imperial University was renamed Peking University and its library was renamed Peking University Book Department. In December 1930, Peking University Book Department was officially called Peking University Library. Many libraries in modern China took publishing books as one of their business and the Peking University Library was no exception.

Relevant Concept Definition and Literature Sources

The “modern times” in this paper starts from the construction of the Peking Imperial University Library to the the founding of the People’s Republic of China from 1898 to 1949. The main sources of literature information searched are basically the same as those in my paper “The Publishing of Books in Modern Chinese Libraries from the Perspective of Literature Statistics” (《从文献统计看中国近代图书馆的图书出版》) (published in Journal of Academic Libraries/《大学图书馆学报》, Volume 35, Issue 1, 2017), which includes the OPAC System of National Library, General Bibliography of the Republic of China (《民国时期总书目》, published by Bibliographic Literature Publishing House from 1986 to 1996), the CALIS’s OPAC System, “General Library of the Republic of China Period · Republic of China Book Databas” constructed by National Library of China Publishing House, National Public Library Microfilm Literature Joint Catalogue(partof Republic of China) (《全国公共图书馆缩微文献联合目录(民国编)》, 18 volumes in total), Joint Catalogue of Historical Literature in the Anti-Japanese War Rear Area of China (《中国抗战大后方历史文献联合目录》), published by Chongqing Publishing House in 2011), the CADAL digital library, the book channel of “Duxiu Database”, etc. (Wang X., 2017), combined with relevant information from the “University Ancient Literature Resource Database of Xueyuanjigu” and “Confucius Old Book Network”.

Search Results

By searching the relevant literature sources, there are at least 18 kinds of books published by the Peking University Library and its predecessors (including the book-storage building of Peking Imperial University and the Peking University’s Book Department), as detailed in Table 1.

Table 1

List of Books Whose Publishers are Indicated as Peking University Library and Its Predecessors

Results-based Analysis

From Table 1, it can be seen that 15 kinds of books related to library or library science were published by Peking University Library and its predecessors, accounting for 83.3%. According to Chinese library classification, they belong to the “Catalog of Library Collections” or “Library Management”. There are only three other types of books, namely, the “Education’ book: Roster of All Students (《全校学生名册》) published in September 1917, the “History” or “Literature” book: The Chronicle of Tang’s Meng Jiao(《唐孟郊年谱》) published in July 1940, and “Language and Writing” book: Shuowen Kuiguan(《说文窥管》) photocopied and published in May 1942.

Among the books of the “Catalogue of library collections”, there are comprehensive catalogues, specialized catalogues, and rare editions catalogues. The comprehensive catalogue includes Bibliography of Peking Imperial Universit, Chinese Book List of Peking Imperial University, National Peking University Book Department Chujieshu Caomu, National Peking University Book Department Cangshu Caomu, New Bibliography of Chinese and Western Bibliography from National Peking University Library (volumes 1-3). The specialized catalogue includes National Peking University Book Department Classified Bibliography of Western Books, Catalogue of Government Publications in the Library of National Peking University, and catalogue of good books is List of Rare books in Peking University Library.

Roster of All Students is a non-publishable typewriter edition compiled by Peking University Library. The Chronicle of Tang’s Meng Jiao was originally a graduation thesis written by Hua Chenzhi (1914-2002, with the given name Xun) in 1937 in the Department of Chinese Literature at Tsinghua University. The article is diverse in its material selection and flexible in its research methods. It cites over 120 types of literature and has received high praise from his mentor Wen Yiduo: “Our department has worked hard in all previous graduation theses, and we should take this as our top priority (Chenzhi, 1987).” The Chronicle of Tang’s Meng Jiao is a lead-printed single-volume book published by the Peking University Library in 1940 after several revisions on the basis of Hua Chenzhi’s graduation thesis, which was published by the Peking University Library in the fallen area. The original author of Shuowen Kuiguan was Zhou Murun (1810-?, with the courtesy name Wenzhi and style Keting) from the Qing Dynasty. In 1912, Qian Xuantong (1887-1939, formerly known as Qian Xia, with the courtesy name Deqian and style YiGu), who worked at the Hangzhou Education Bureau and later served as a professor of philology at Peking University, copied the book and later stored it in the Zhejiang Library. In 1942, to commemorate the third anniversary of Qian Xuantong’s death, the Peking University Library in the occupied area photocopied the manuscript.

Conclusion

The books published by Peking University Library in modern times were printed using methods such as woodblock, lead printing, mimeograph, photocopying, etc. The vast majority of them were printed using lead printing, which is consistent with the use of lead printing in modern times, especially during the Republican era. Chinese library classification includes library collection catalogue, library management, literature, language and writing, etc. Among all of them, the library collection catalogue is the most common and all are the bibliographies of various types of books compiled by the school library, which is consistent with the main service function of the library.

References

Chenzhi (1987). “Hua Chenzhi”. In J.Guan (Ed.), Biographies of modern Manchu Litterateur and Artists  (pp. 182-185). Shenyang: Liaoning People’s Publishing House.

Peking Imperial University. (1993). Peking Imperial University Renews library charter.In the History Research Office of Peking University (Ed.), Historical materials of Peking University Volume 1 (1898-1911) (p. 463).Beijing: Peking University Press.

Wang, X. (2017). The book publishing of China modern library by literature statistics. Journal of Academic Libraries, 35(1), 112-123.

Yao, B. (2013). Finding the source of the Imperial University Library in rare books cataloging. Journal of Academic Libraries, 31(6), 103-108.

原载Journal of Literature and Art Studies2024年第4期，原文链接：The Book Publishing and Analysis of Modern Peking University Library.pdf。中译文：近代北京大学图书馆的图书出版与分析.pdf。