THE CHINESEENCYCLOPEDIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 292, 17 December 1879, Page 4

THE CHINESEENCYCLOPEDIA.

A BWGLE WOBK IK 5020 VOLIPCBS — THB CODIFICATION OF A NATIONS LITRKATUBK. : The great Chinese Encyclopaedia recently purchased for the British Museum certainly ought to be a bargain. We cannot do for it what Macaulay once did for somebody'^ book -r-gi?e us dimensions and its weight avoirdupois — but 5020 volumes for £1500 certainly looks cheap. It no doubt woo Id have been a good deal , dearer bat for (he peculiar cjrcomStances oedtr which it was purchased. If r Miyer*, OOP Secretary of Legation •t Pekin, had, it appears, to' carry on . negotiation* not only with the almost . secrecy as regards the Chinese, people, but had carefully to guard the facts of its being sold to a foreigner from the knowledge even of the vendor himself. The parchfise was completed many months ago, hat the transportation of this curious literary treasure had to be deferred on account of the setting in of winter, and not until two or three weeks ago was it received in Bloomsbury, where it is now in course of arrangement in the presses of the Chinese Library, under the supervision of Mr Douglas, the Chinese Librarian. That it is a great acquisition seems to be very generally the opinion of all who know anything of Chinese affairs, and if it really is what it purports to be, it cannot but be so. It is a work due to the wisdom and energy of Ka'agbe, whom all historians of China extol as the greatest and wisest of the Chinese emperors. He conceived the plan of a great Chinese dictionary, and also set about the really remarkable undertaking now represented by 5020 volumes at the British ; Museum. He was, it appears, a great admirer of ancient Chinese literature, and was deeply grieved to perceive that extensive corruptions were everywhere creeping into the texts of ancient works

(bat were reproduced. To pot a stop to this he determined to gather together In one authoritative work the enlire mass of Chinese literature from tbe earliest timrs until his own d»y. It was a vaat design, and was carried out with tbe ability for which Kang-be was conspicuous. A learned commission was appointed to collate and verify all Chinese works, and the Jesuit missionaries were simultaneously employed in casting a vast foant of copper type. Tbe collection and examination occupied the commission for 40, years, | and before it was fully computed tbe | wise old monarch died, leaving the ; completion of his great design to Yung-Chin?, his successor, who signalled bis accession by dismissing tbe missionaries as a dangerous . and traitorous set — all but a few, who were retained at Court as indispensable to the carrying on of Kang-he's Eocyclopae Ha, tbe printing of tbe almanac, and so on. He seems to have taken up the great literary scheme with keen interest, and Mr Douglass tells us that it was bis hand that wrote tbe preface to the work when it was at length published. Tbe Commissioners professed to have taken all works from about 1100 be, to 1700 ad., and it is supposed that, the whole Chinese literature of any importance between these dates is to be found embodied in these 5020 volumes. The subjects are classified under six headings, under which are arranged writings relating to tbe heavens, tbe eartb, nutnkiod 1 , inanimate nature, -philosophy and political economy. Very little* seems to be actually known about the work, even the purchaser, Mr Mayers, having, as it would seem, had to buy the books without having an opportunity of examining them, eveo though they do not' prove to be all they are supposed to be. The work, however, 'is probably all but oniqoe. Tradition affirms thit only 100 copies were originally printed, and, that tbe type was broken up. No doubt the majority of tbe copies have long ago perished, and it cannot but be a,matter for congratulation that one has been secured for oar great library.