Source: Sun Yat-sen University Libraries
Written by: Sun Yat-sen University Libraries
Translated by: Huang Fang
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On January 4, the award ceremony of the 3rd Chinese Government Award for Publishing was held in Beijing by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Annotated Catalogue of the Chinese Rare Books in the Harvard-Yenching Library, Harvard University, U.S.A, complied by Mr. Shen Jin, distinguished expert in Sun Yat-sen University Libraries, won the “Book Award”. It is the first time that a book in the field of library science in China won such an honor.
Mr. Shen Jin began to compile this catalogue in 1992 and spent 18 years to complete it. Published by Guangxi Normal University Press in April, 2011, it consists of 6 volumes of 4 million words. It includes all the Chinese rare books totaling 3,097 titles except the local gazetteers in Harvard-Yenching Library. This catalogue demonstrates the edition information and value of rare books of every title in detail, including the title, volume number, the arrangement of lines, frame, preface, postscript, the author’s resume, the contents of every volume, reasons for compilation, evidences for edition appraisal, taboo words, carving, writing, painting, printing, publisher, other collections, seal and so on. Specially, it gives a detailed introduction to the bibliography of rare books uncollected in domestic libraries, creating the “Harvard Style” of compilation for rare books. It is a valuable reference book in Bibliography and Philology, providing scholars at home and abroad with a comprehensive description of the collection and value of the Chinese rare books in Harvard-Yenching Library, as well as an important reference for the theoretical development and practice of the compilation model, style and method.

Mr. Shen Jin was once under the tutelage of Mr. Gu Tinglong, a famous bibliographer of rare books. In his early years, Mr. Shen Jin participated in the compilation of Bibliography of China’s Rare Books. He acted as the Director of the Department of Rare Books in Shanghai Library for many years and then was invited to the Library of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 1992, he went to the Harvard-Yenching Institute in Harvard University, U.S.A, as a visiting scholar, and two years later he became the Director of the Department of Rare Books in Harvard-Yenching Library. He is also the author of Shucheng yicui lu, Chronicle of Weng Fanggang, Chronicle of Gu Tinglong, etc. In February of 2011, after he retired from Harvard-Yenching Library, Mr. Shen Jin was invited and appointed as the Distinguished Expert in the Department of Special Collections in Sun Yat-sen University Libraries. He has helped the library train talents on scholarly editing of rare books and bibliography as well as given significant guidance to the management of rare books in the library. Mr. Shen Jin has visited many institutions and libraries with collections of rare books all over the world, identified and scholarly edited many Chinese rare books for decades. He has published many books and enjoys high academic standing and reputation at home and abroad.

Aimed at recognizing and rewarding outstanding publications, publishers and individuals, the Chinese Government Award for Publishing is the highest award for the news publishing industry and is held once two years by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Only 56 outstanding books won the Book Award this time.