Revisiting Jing Shi Tu Shu Guan Shan Ben Jian Ming Shu Mu—An Investigation of Wang Mao-Rong’s Compilation History

Abstract

During Jiang Han’s (江瀚) tenure as director of the Jing Shi Library from 1912 to 1913, the library compiled two “Jing Shi Tu Shu Guan Shan Ben Jian Ming Shu Mu (京師圖書館善本簡明書目).” For a long time, scholars have confused the two versions, believing that they were both compiled by Jiang Han and collectively referred to as “Jiang Mu” (“Jiang’s Version”; 江目). Nowadays the two bibliographies exist in four editions, in the National Library of China in Beijing and in the Keio Institute of Oriental Classics in Japan respectively. Via a survey of the extant editions and a comparison of the documentary records, it can be confirmed that the “Jian Ming Shu Mu” compiled during Jiang Han’s tenure exists in two types: a simplified version and a comprehensive version. The simplified version was compiled by Wang Mao-Rong (王懋鎔), a librarian, while the comprehensive version was compiled by Jiang Han using the simplified version as a base and reworking it according to Miao Quan-Sun’s (繆荃孫) “Qing Xue Bu Tu Shu Guan Shan Ben Shu Mu (清學部圖書館善本書目).” The article also briefly describes the biographical data of Wang Mao-Rong and provides a historical account of his compilation of the Jian Ming Shu Mu. (Article content in Chinese with English extended abstract)

Keywords

• jiang han
• wang mao-rong
• jing shi library
• rare books bibliography
• library history