The collection of Oriental Library

The director of Oriental Library attaches great importance to the collection and purchase of books. Do not hesitate to spend a lot of money, not afraid of difficulties, and persevere. Collect, retrieve and purchase a large number of ancient books, ancient and modern Chinese and foreign classics, rare books and rare books. When Wang, the curator, visited Europe and America, he bought many volumes of western ancient books printed before the 0/5th century, which is a treasure. From 7 to 25 years of the Republic of China, Zhang Yuanji received the field staff of the old bookstore at about 5 pm every day, and went home to read the books carefully, carefully identify them, guide the prices and buy the collections. Among a large number of books, there are the Bulletin published in the Netherlands at that time, the Journal published by the Asian Language Association of Britain, the China Report, the Philosophical Review and the Edinburgh Review published in Hongkong and out of print, most of which are rare and rare. The first edition of German Justus von Liebig Journal of Chemistry is a complete set of periodicals, which is the only one in the Far East and is particularly famous. Newspapers and periodicals published in China are more complete, such as Shanghai Times, Shenzhou Daily, Republic of China Daily, Tianjin Ta Kung Pao, Yi Shi Daily and Jinghua Daily in Qing Dynasty. By 193 1 year, there were 268,000 kinds of ordinary Chinese documents, more than 80,000 kinds of foreign documents, and more than 5,000 kinds of charts and photos, including the scrolls 10 of the empress dowager, the crown prince and the Vatican eunuchs in charge of ceremony, all of which were purchased by Zhang Yuanji. In addition, such as geological maps, human anatomy maps, western historical maps, oil paintings, photos published in Germany, Britain, the United States and other countries, there are countless originals. Even more precious are four ancient books (classics department, history department, division department and collection department) and a set of local chronicles with a considerable number of 22 provinces, with a total of 264 1 species and 25,682 volumes, including 2 Yuan editions, 39 Ming editions and 208 1 species. The library has a total collection of more than 463,000 books (not including photos and charts), which has become a huge view, unparalleled in China at that time.

Rich and precious books are favored by readers. 1929, with nearly 30,000 readers. At the end of the year, a distribution department was set up in the basement to buy 10 thousand new books to attract more readers. From 65438 to 0930, the number of readers was 36,000.

The traditional publishing industry in China has a long history, and there are countless books left over from previous dynasties. Under the historical conditions at that time, many precious and rare ancient books were not only rare publishing resources for the emerging publishing industry, but also the outflow of books from Song and Song architecture to Japan was an ominous sign. Therefore, imperialism's coveting of China's ancient cultural heritage should not be underestimated. In view of this, Zhang Yuanji devoted himself to the collection of rare books of ancient books, and from the very beginning, he was assisted by the famous bibliographers Miao and Fu Zengxiang in China. Beijing is the capital, so there are many books at home. Liulichang Bookstore is the source of rare ancient books. Speaking of this, Zhang Yuanji once said, "Every time I go to the capital, I will go home in bundles. Jia people hold books for sale. If there are no books, you don't have to keep them. " Private collections are short-lived, so they are the main buyers in Zhang Yuanji. From the beginning of the 20th century, introduced by the famous educator Cai Yuanpei, Zhang Yuanji bought all the books of Zhushizhai in Shaoxing Jing Rong in the name of the Commercial Press, and then bought the books of Sion Zhai of Jiangs in Changzhou in Qin and Han Dynasties, the books of Shiding Zhijing in Fengshun, Guangdong Province, and dozens of books of Shi Sheng Art Garden in Qing Zongbao, including The Secret History of Yuan Dynasty, Facts Garden in English and Song Dynasties, and Gongsuntan Garden. Most of the items collected by Gu belong to Huang Ji Shop and Wang Lang Garden, among which there are many rare treasures. The Classic Interpretation of Classics compiled by Zhao Wen and Zhang Jinwu is also derived from Wen Zhai. Later, the books of Yang Duanjia, Ba Jia, Jingzhou Tianjia, Nanhai Kongjia, Haining Jia and Jiangyin Miaojia were distributed one after another, and they were found everywhere, which was quite fruitful. For example, when the Song version of Selected Works of Notes of Six Ministers was awarded by Yang Duan; Huang's Historical Records in the Song Dynasty and the South China True Classics in the Song Dynasty are both from Tian's family in Jingzhou. Zi Jian was compiled in Song Dynasty, and it was written by Confucius in Nanhai. Justice in the Spring and Autumn Period, Zuo Zhuan, Biography of the Spring and Autumn Ram, Fuzhou Edition published by Song Qingyuan, and The Book of the Later Han Dynasty published by Song Shaoxing, all won Sun Shi in Haining. Since then, they have collected books from Miyun Building in Wujiang, Wucheng and books from He in Yangzhou. There are many excellent books in these two batches. Miyun Building won more than ten volumes of Yongle Grand Ceremony. These more than ten volumes of Yongle Dadian are precious because the first half of Wu Yingtang's rare book Water Mirror Notes is among them. In addition to purchasing, Zhang Yuanji also transfers copies to public and private collectors in other forms, or borrows photos separately. For example, Miao Sunquan transferred 8,000 volumes of Shi Ding's exquisite bamboo slips from Jiangning Library; Borrow Fu Zengxiang's films, such as Cold Zhai Night Talk, Notes of Old Learning Temple, Summer Story, Old News of Qu Yan and White Tiger Morality; Borrowing and copying local chronicles from Pinghu Pavilion, Puchuantang and other places is considerable.

The spread of western learning to the east and the translation of western books into Chinese played an undeniable role in promoting China's modern cultural enlightenment and the emergence of modern publishing industry. Therefore, Zhang Yuanji also attaches great importance to the collection and utilization of world famous books and newspapers. According to Mao Dun, who once worked as an editor in the Commercial Press, around 19 18, the Compilation Institute of the Commercial Press has collected many English classics, such as Everybody's Stack and New Era Series. These books collect many English versions of western bourgeois political, economic, philosophical and literary masterpieces and literary and historical masterpieces outside Britain, from works of Greece and Rome to works of Ibsen and Beyonson. Well-known foreign language newspapers and periodicals, such as Bulletin published in the Netherlands, Journal published by the British Asian Language Association, and Justus von Liebig Journal of Chemistry published 100 years ago, all have complete sets. In addition, there are many volumes of western ancient books before15th century. Among the pictures in the collection, there are films of the Empress Dowager, Empress, Prince and Eunuch who converted to Catholicism in the Pope Vatican Palace. This was obtained by Zhang Yuanji during his inspection in Europe and America, and it has high literature value. On the basis of extensive collection of Chinese and foreign books, in order to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Commercial Press, the Oriental Library hosted by the Commercial Press held an opening ceremony on May 3rd 1926 and officially opened to the public on May 3rd 1927. According to the Survey of Oriental Library, there were more than 330,000 books, more than 900 Chinese and foreign magazines, 45 Chinese and foreign newspapers and periodicals, about 2,000 maps and about 10000 photos when it was opened to the outside world. After years of searching, before the Oriental Library was destroyed by Japanese artillery fire on1October 28th, 1932+ 165438, the Oriental Library had more than 5 18000 books and more than 5,000 charts and photos. In addition to ordinary books, among rare books, there are 2 kinds of Song edition books 129 and 5 14 volumes; Metaversion 179, 3 124; Ming edition books 1 4 19, 15 833 volumes; Qing dynasty fine books 138 species, 3037 volumes. 1, 460 kinds of transcripts, 77 12 volumes; Celebrity approved 288 kinds of school-based, 2 126 volumes; Manuscript 7 1 species, 354 volumes; Magazine 3 1 species, 383 volumes (the above data does not include more than 40,000 volumes of Yangzhou Ho Library purchased by 193 1, because some versions are still being sorted out), thus making Oriental Library the leading public library in China at that time, and Hanfen Building (a part of Oriental Library) became a famous library building at home and abroad because of its rare books.