Rare Chinese Volumes Purchased by University To Save Them From Danger of Japanese Attacks

Six hundred rare Chinese books, salvaged from the war torn areas of central and eastern China are now resting safely in a fireproof room in the cellar of Boylston Library, after a year and a half of work in China by Dr. A. Kaiming Chin, head librarian of the Harvard Yenching Institute.

The precious books, dating back as far as the tenth century, were bought by Dr. Chin from private collectors who, fleeing Japanese bombs, saved these as their most valuable possessions. Japanese restrictions preventing Chinese citizens from bringing goods out of the country made it impossible for Dr. Chin himself to supervise the books' departure, that job being left to an American associate of his in the Far Eastern Department.

Harvard's Yenching library, under the control of Dr. Chin, who has been its head since 1927, has grown from a single room in Widener Library containing only 4,000 volumes to a collection of 160,000 books covering the entire basement of Boylston. There the new additions, piled ceiling-high in the department's rare book vault, have not yet been unpacked since they arrived only two months ago.

Eventually, however, they will find their way into the immense catalogue of far eastern writings whose preparation Dr. Chin is now supervising. This work, the first of its kind in this country, will consist of 2,600 pages giving a classified index to the 35,000 titles in the Yenching Library. Many copies on cards will be made and sent to libraries and universities all over the country, where they will be an invaluable aid to research students of Oriental culture.