Chen Xi 陈熙
Guangxi Normal University Press, 2022
About the book: Harvard University is a premier center for sinology research worldwide, holding an extremely rich collection of China-related research materials. Among them, the collection of ancient maps is also dazzling. There are not only plenty of traditional Chinese maps but also many China-related maps issued by the West since the 15th century. In 2018, following the instructions of James Cheng, the then Librarian of the Harvard-Yenching Library, the author sorted out the China-related old maps collections at Harvard, and ultimately, recorded 1,218 items of relevant maps, mainly held in the Harvard Map Collection and Harvard-Yenching Library. The author compiled an annotated bibliography for these ancient maps one by one, introduced the main contents of the maps, pointed out the relevant historical background and events involved in the maps, analyzed the research value of some important maps, and estimated some maps’ painting or publishing times. Besides, the book also clarified the relation of different versions of the maps, and corrected a few discrepancies in the Harvard library category system. The primary purpose of this book is to provide reference and convenience for scholars to use the Harvard map collections.
This book is the first comprehensive compilation of the China-related ancient map collections at Harvard. With this book in hand, scholars all over the world can grasp the entire picture of the China-related ancient map collections at Harvard.
美国哈佛大学是海外汉学研究重镇，拥有极为丰富的中国研究资料，其中古旧地图的收藏亦可谓琳琅满目，既有丰富的传统中国舆图，也有大量15世纪以来西方发行的与中国相关的地图。2018年，本书作者遵时任哈佛燕京图书馆郑炯文馆长嘱，对哈佛大学图书馆藏中国相关的古旧地图进行了系统的整理，整理的对象是1949年以前的与中国相关的古旧地图。经一年多的梳理和查验，共录得相关地图信息1218条，主要集中于哈佛地图馆（Harvard Map Collection）和哈佛燕京图书馆（Harvard-Yenching Library）。作者为这些古旧地图逐一编撰了提要，介绍了地图的主要内容，指出地图涉及的相关历史背景和历史事件，分析了部分重要地图的研究价值，对若干地图的成图年代进行了判定，对地图不同版本的关联性做了说明，修正了哈佛图书馆系统的少数偏差信息。编撰此提要主要目的，是希望向学术界推介哈佛大学的中国古旧地图收藏，为相关学者的研究提供参考与便利。
该书首次全面汇编了哈佛大学馆藏中国相关古地图信息，海内外的读者凭此书即可把握哈佛馆藏中国古旧地图的全貌。