NOTES AND QUERIES
159
National Biography, but with the library mentioned by Angus Hamilton. What became of it?
Hong Kong, May 1982
JAMES HAYES
A MISSING CHINESE LIBRARY
Our Hon. Librarian, Mr. Rydings, has been following up the question posed in my Note on this subject that appeared in the Journal in the 1976 issue (Vol. 16: 284). The papers reproduced below will be of interest, and may also result in the still missing library being restored to wider public knowledge and use.
Hon. Editor
30 July 1980
(I) Letter to The Librarian, David Bishop Skillman Library,
Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. 18042
Dear Librarian,
William Edgar Geil
Please see the enclosed extract* from Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 16, 1976, p. 284. As Dr. Geil was one of your distinguished alumni, I am interested to know whether you can throw any light on the mystery of the missing books. It seems extraordinary if they have disappeared without trace, yet I can find no mention of them other than in the source quoted.
Any help which you can provide would be much appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
H. A. RYDINGS Librarian
c.c.: Dr. J. W. Hayes
* In order to compile his book Eighteen Capitals of China (Philadelphia and London; J.B. Lippincott Company, 1911) Dr. William Edgar Geil, the celebrated American traveller and author stated in his preface: (p.x) "With the aid of viceroys, governors, Hanlin scholars, librarians, booksellers, we have gathered a large collection, out of which selections by leading scholars have been translated, and a few specimens are given, to let the readers see the old style of book. Local proverbs in themselves have never been brought together on our scale; and to choose from a mass of new material which would fill three volumes has been a difficult task."