RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 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." ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 160 NOTES AND QUERIES It would appear from the introduction penned by the famous American sinologue missionary and teacher, Dr. W.A.P. Martin, that this literary material was collected on the spot, at each capital, comprising "their topographical treasures, a mass of literature destined to form the basis of a Chinese Library" (p. viii). Also that, as for one of Dr. Geil's former books on China, on his journeyings along the Great Wall, Martin had helped to put his materials in shape (p. viii). Does anyone know of the present whereabouts of this valuable collection which presumably was taken back by Dr. Geil to his home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania where, according to Who Was Who in America, he was born, lived and died (1925). Hong Kong, 1977, JAMES HAYES. Postscript (1981). I was in error as to place of death. Dr. Geil died at Venice on 11th April 1925. (II) Letter from The Mercer Museum & Fonthill, The Bucks County Historical Society Pine Street, The Spruance Library Doylestown, PA 18901 H. A. Rydings Librarian University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong Dear Mr. Rydings: September 18, 1980 Your letter of July 30 was forwarded to us by Mr. Robert G. Gennett of the Lafayette College Library in the hope that we might know something of the present location of the Chinese library of William Edgar Geil. The enclosed copy of a 1910 article in our clipping file indicates that the material did come home with Mr. Geil. However, we do not own it and we do not know what has become of it. When Geil died in 1925, he left his manuscripts and collections in his will to his wife (as indicated in the second enclosed clipping). Mrs. Geil died on January 16, 1959. The newspaper account of her will makes no mention of the library. She did leave a daughter, Mrs. Constance Geil Laycock, who was then of Shaker Heights, ================================================================================