RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 284 NOTES AND QUERIES Since then, I have seen a notice which makes it clear that Hong Kong Chinese joined the Volunteer Movement at least 30 years before this time. In a speech made by Dr., later Sir James, Cantlie, then Dean of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, on 23rd July 1892, on the occasion of the presentation of diplomas to the first two members to qualify (one was Sun Yat-sen), he pointed out that students of the college were the only Chinese then enlisted in the recently reorganised 'Reserve Force of Hong Kong' (See G. Stokes, Queen's College 1862-1962, Hong Kong n.d.). Hong Kong, 1976. JAMES HAYES A MISSING CHINESE LIBRARY? In order to compile his book Eighteen Capitals of China (Philadelphia and London; J.B. Lippencott 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.' 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 ================================================================================ 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, ================================================================================ 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 161 Ohio. Other legacies went to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, both in New York City. If we find any more information on this matter, we will let you know. cc: Robert G. Gennett Annex 1: Yours sincerely, Terry A. McNealy Library Director as extracted from a newspaper cutting from The Doyles-town Intelligencer of 1st September, 1910 sent by the Library Director of the Spruance Library. Dr William Edgar Geil, who has been engaged for a year in making political and literary investigations in China, returned to his home in Doylestown, Wednesday night, after completely circumnavigating the earth and getting material enough for three volumes which will be boiled down to one companion volume for the "Great Wall of China," which he published last year. "It has been my most successful journey," said Dr. Geil to an Intelligencer reporter, Thursday morning, at his home on West Court street. "I have visited all of the twenty capitals of the Chinese empire, investigated the political situation in each, the economical conditions and gathered a library of Chinese literature different from any in existence. There is really a ton of this literature which is now on its way over and is one of the most remarkable collections ever made. This was Dr. Geil's third visit to China. In 1902 he travelled from Shanghai to Bhamo, Burmah, and wrote "The Yankee on the Yangtse." In 1908 he explored the whole length of the Great Wall and wrote a book upon it which had a wonderful sale. It is a great compliment that he has already sold the English rights to his book on his last journey, although it is not yet written. Annex 2: as extracted from a newspaper cutting from The Doyles-town Intelligencer of 7th May, 1925 sent by the Library Director. The residue of the estate, including manuscripts and collections are given to Mrs. Geil. In the event Mrs. Geil did not survive it was provided the collection and rest of the estate be given to the... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 201 Forsyth, Sidney A, An American Missionary Community in China 1895-1905, Cambridge (Mass), Harvard University Press, 1971 Fortune, Robert, Five Year's Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China, London John Murray, 1844 (Shanghai Reprint University Press) Two Visits to the Tea Countries of China and the British Tea Plantations in the Himalaya, London John Murray, 1853 Fox, Helen, ed and trans, Abbe David's Diary, Cambridge (Mass) Harvard University Press, 1949 Franck, Harry Alverson, Wandering in Northern China. New York and London The Century Company, 1923 — Roving Through Southern China, New York and London The Century Company, 1925 Franek, Rachel (Harta), I Married a Vagabond the Story of Family of the Wandering Vagabond, New York Appleton-Century 1939. Fritz, Chester, China Journey, Seattle Washington University Press, 1981 Gallagher, Louis J ST, trans, The Journals of Matthew Ricci 1583-1610, New York Random House, 1953 Gamewell, M N, The Gateway to China Pictures of Shanghai New York Fleming H Revell Company, 1916 (Taipei: Reprint Cheng-wen Publishing) Garman, Schuyler New Fight on Hua and Gabet. Their Expulsion From Lhasa in 1846. Pacific Eastern Quarterly | 148-63 (1942) Gardner, James. In and Out of Chungking Changteh - Wenchow - Chanchow. Missionary Life, Experience and Adventure During the First of Three Periods of Residence in China, Sydney 1947 Garon, Shirley S. The Chamber of Commerce and the YMCA in Mark Elvin and G William Skinner, eds. The Chinese City Between Two Worlds, Stanford Stanford University Press. 1974 213-238 Gaunt Mary Elizabeth Bakewell (b. 1872). A Woman in China, London, Lane, 1914 Geil, William Edgar. A Yankee on the Yangtze, New York Eaton and Mains, 1904 (Copy at Yale published by Methuen in London 1926) General Description of Shanghae and Its Environs Shanghai The Mission Press, 1850 Goes, Bento de, The Travels of Benedict Goez, a Portuguese Jesuit from Lahore in the Mogul's Empire to China, in 1602. in Pinkerton, John, ed, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels London 1808-14:577-587) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Carl Crow, 1883-1945 My friends, the Chinese. London: Hamish Hamilton. 1938. Fitzgerald, C. P., 1902- Communism takes China: how the revolution went Red. London: BPC, c1971. Franck, Harry Alverson Roving through Southern China. New York: Century, c1925. Geil, William Edgar A Yankee on the Yangtze: being a narrative of a journey from Shanghai through the Central Kingdom to Burma. New York: Eaton & Mains, 1904. Gottschang, Thomas R. Swallows and settlers: the great migration from north China to Manchuria. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, c2000. Gray, John Henry China: a history of the laws, manners, and customs of the people. London: Macmillan, c1878. 2 vols. Hobart, Alice Tisdale, 1882-1967 Oil for the lamps of China. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, c1934. Ho, Pui-yin. Dian di hua dang nian: Xiang-gang gong shui yi bai wu shi nian. Xiang-gang: Shang wu yin shu guan (Xiang-gang) you xian gong si, 2001. Ho, Pui-yin Water for a barren rock: 150 years of water supply in Hong Kong; [English translator, Lui Yuen Chung]. Hong Kong: Commercial Press, c2001. Honey, W.B. (William Bowyer) The ceramic art of China and other countries of the Far East. London: Faber, c1945. xlvi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 Commercial & Credit Information Bureau The Comacrib industrial & commercial manual: Shanghai, 1935. Shanghai: The Commercial & Credit Information Bureau, 1935. [Dan Waters RTVHK interview] [2 sound cassettes] [Hong Kong: RTHK, 1995], Davies, A.G. Shanghailander. [s.l.: s.n., n.d.]. Directory and chronicle for China, Japan, Philippines, British Malay, etc. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Daily Press Ltd. Annual. Ellinger, Geoffrey The Ricksha clue. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited, c1931. Fleming, Peter, 1907-1971. The siege at Peking. London: Harper-Davis, [1959]. Geil, William Edgar A Yankee on the Yangtze: being a narrative of a journey from Shanghai through the Central Kingdom to Burma. New York: A.C. Armstrong and Sons, 1904. Glover, Archibald Edward A thousand miles of miracle in China: a personal record of God's delivering power from the hands of the imperial Boxers of Shan-si. London; Hodder & Stoughton, 1937. Hsiao, Chien, 1910- China: but not Cathay. London: Pilot Press, 1942. Holzberger, Peter Recollections of an "old China hand". Hong Kong: Martin & Thomas, c1984. [Hong Kong heritage] [4 sound cassettes] [Hong Kong: RTHK, 19—]. The life of Shanghai. [Tokyo: Shobido Printing Office, 1934]. Kilburn, Richard S. liv ================================================================================