194
books", it was reported.
37
But publications on China issued during the war years outside China were lacking and efforts were made to fill this gap through donation. Exchange agreements with learned societies were re-established, and the prospects of returning the society to its former prominence were good. The toughest selling job, however, was among the local residents, as usual:
While letters received from abroad show the high regard this Society and its institutions are enjoying in other countries, the local public is not taking much notice of it, as proven by the small number of visitors and users of our library. However, similar complaints have been voiced by successive librarians for the past 70 years without achieving the desired effect of a more extensive utilization of this Society's facilities by Local Public.
38
Mr. Schwartz kept busy compiling "A Descriptive Bibliographical Catalogue of the European Books Printed Before 1800 in the Library of the R. A. S.", followed by one to the next century. Both were published in the Society's Journal.
The last issue of the Journal came out in 1948, and its only statement concerning the library was:
It has a library of some 14,000 books of reference which, though latterly hampered by lack of funds, contains many older works not available elsewhere in Shanghai, and which is constantly used by scholars and the public. The library is open daily (except on Sundays and holidays) from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
39
The demise of the library as a result of the communist victory is beyond the scope of this paper. It ceased to exist as a separate entity, and what became of its collection, by all accounts the finest assemblage of Western language books on China ever formed in that country, is not known to this writer.