Gift of Wang
Family library.

themselves, will effect a certain, if gradual, remedy, which is matter for congratulation.

Of the other great research libraries abroad there are three in whose policy and practice the Library of Congress is especially interested and with which it would gladly develop cooperative relations. They are: The British Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, and the State Library at Berlin. They are all now under the conduct of vigorous and enterprising administrators, each of whom has visited the United States-Sir Frederic Kenyon several years ago, M. Roland-Marcel last spring, and Herr Krüss in 1926-and acquainted himself with the methods through which American libraries are endeavoring to improve their efficiency, and especially with their efforts in bibliographic projects cooperative in character, some of which are likely to take on international aspects.

America has many occasions for desiring loans of research material from Europe. As yet there have not been many in which Europe has looked to America. In our own experience the several dealt with have involved music-original manuscript scores or printed rarities. One in a different field occurred last spring, when photostat copies of two literary texts were sent by us to Göttingen for the use of a professor at the university who is preparing a monumental treatise upon "The Holy Grail." The photostats were part of the collection of reproductions made for the Modern Language Association and placed in our custody for administration. A singular detail in the loan is that the originals of the two texts (Perceval de Galois) are, one of them at Edinburgh, the other at London.

THE TRUST FUND BOARD

has continued to operate smoothly and effectively. The first term of John Barton Payne, one of the presidential appointees, having expired in April, 1928, he was reappointed for a full term of five years from that date.

Just as this annual report goes to press the liberality of a member of the Trust Fund Board has made possible the purchase of the family library of Mr. Wang Shu-an

of Tientsin, China. Mr. Wang Shu-an himself is a wellknown professor in Tsinghua College not far from Peking. This gift of unusual timeliness and foresight brings to the Library's already unique Chinese collection 1,668 separate works in 20,000 volumes. Of these titles, 87 are old manuscripts ranging from the 15th to the early part of the 19th century; 94 others are rare and beautiful palace editions; and no fewer than 276 of the total number of works were printed in the Ming period, 1368–1644 A. D. Obviously no adequate description of this remarkable accession is possible until the shipment reaches this country and the individual items are examined in detail. In the meantime, however, Dr. Walter T. Swingle, Mr. Michael J. Hagerty, and the staff of the Chinese Division have for some months been studying the titles from the detailed descriptions given of each of them in the Wang Family catalogue. Most of the statistical information given below is the result of Mr. Hagerty's painstaking research on the collection.

A classification of the 1,668 separate works, according to the usual fourfold division used in the Imperial Catalogue, shows that 210 of the items deal with classical literature; 271 with history; 388 with philosophy; and 799 with belles lettres. It should be remembered, however, that in this classification are crowded together works on geography, travel, military affairs, biography, laws, music, and all the sciences known to the Chinese. The fourth of the above divisions happens to contain by far the largest number of titles because the Wang Family library is particularly rich in the prose and poetic collected works of individual writers. Indeed this class, known to the Chinese as pieh chi, numbers 569 items, or almost onethird of the entire library. As it happens, the Library of Congress has hitherto been inadequately represented in this field of literature, so that the relatively large number of this class of writings very fortunately fills out a very important gap in the Chinese collection, These individual collections are indispensable to scholars engaged in research work in particular schools of Chinese thought or literature, and furnish at the same time a very necessary and valuable supplement to the Library's 500 t'sung

Death of W.

Dawson Johnston.

shu containing thousands of reprints of rare monographs by different authors. Many of these collected writings of individual authors have long been out of print, so that the difficulty of getting them is frequently a great handicap to scholars working in specialized fields.

Seven of the total of 87 manuscript items mentioned above were written during the Ming period, or prior to 1644 A. D.; two are from very early Manchu times; and the remainder were written in the K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng, Ch'ien-lung, and later periods. These are no doubt likely to disclose items of unique historical or scientific interest.

The earliest printed work in the Wang collection seems to be a Sung edition of the Han chien, or historical critique of the Han dynasty, and was printed from an engraving of the Shao-hsing reign period, 1131–1162 A. D. Some six or eight of the early Ming prints show decided Yüan characteristics, or perhaps are from Yüan blocks struck off in the Ming period. Of the movable type editions one is a Ming impression of the C'h'un ch'iu fan lu, while eight others are 18th century examples of Chinese movable type printing. These form valuable additions to the Library's impressive examples showing the rise, development, and antiquity of printing in China. Five of the 276 works that were printed in the Ming period are from the famous Chi Ku Ko library known to all Chinese bibliophiles. Thirty-eight works attributed to the late 16th century are examples of the so-called " red and black" editions in which the text was printed in large black characters and the commentary in smaller red ones. Others of the Ming editions have the imprint of well-known individuals, or of noted family libraries long since dispersed. These are prized as the best examples of the Chinese bookmaker's art, as well as for their intrinsic interest. The collection was also quite evidently made with a view to securing in each case the best quality of Chinese paper.

After this report was in type the service suffered a serious loss in the sudden death, on November 18, 1928, of Dr. William Dawson Johnston, following a surgical operation.

Born in Vermont in 1871; a graduate of Brown University, 1893; a postgraduate of the University of Chicago, 1893-1895, and of Harvard, 1897-98; his first impulse was toward teaching, and he was for four years an instructor of history in the University of Michigan and in Brown University. In this early period he made his name widely known among librarians by the publication of an extended series of excellent critical and descriptive notes on current historical writings. This led him into library work in which he gained an international repute as a bibliographer. Coming to our service in 1900, he left it in 1907 to become (successively) librarian of the National Bureau of Education, 1907-1909; Columbia University, 1909-1914; the St. Paul (Minn.) Public Library, 1914-1921; the American Library in Paris, 1921–1925.

In 1926 he reentered our service as European representative, returning to America last year to assist in the Rockefeller project for the increase of the bibliographic apparatus. In this he had charge of the subject of special -collections in American libraries.

Among his numerous published contributions to the literature of his profession, his "History of the Library of Congress, 1800-1865," an indispensable source book, the result of prodigious research enlivened by genial scholarship, will endure as a monument.

FINANCE

The following table exhibits the appropriations and expenditures of the Library proper, the copyright office, and the custody and maintenance of the Library Building for the fiscal year, and the appropriations for the preceding fiscal year and the year now current. Included also are the appropriations for the mechanical and structural operations, repairs and equipment of the building and grounds, under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol:

1 Appropriation includes amounts withdrawn for retirement fund: For 1927, $28,764.75; for 1928, $31,925.31; for 1929, amount not yet determined. Also expenditures, 1928, include retirement deductions.

2 No deduction for retirement fund.

a Appropriation includes credits on account of sales of card indexes to governmental institutions: For 1927, $1,649 credited and $50.34 yet to be credited; for 1928, $2,207.85 credited and $75.60 yet to be credited. Expenditures, 1928 ($120,066.41), offset by subscriptions covered into the Treasury ($195,198.78).

• Expenditures, 1928 ($182,959.53), offset by fees covered into the Treasury ($195,167.65). 5 Any unexpended balance in the 1928 appropriation for Index to State Legislation will be available for the fiscal year 1929. Expenditures, 1928, include outstanding indebtedness.

6 Any unexpended balance for purchase of books will be available for the succeeding year. Appropriations do not include $2,500 to be expended by the marshal of the Supreme Court for new books of reference for that body. Expenditures, 1928, include outstanding indebtedness.

7 Appropriation includes credits on account of sales of photo duplications to governmental institutions: For 1927, $17.05; for 1928, $80.30. Expenditures, 1928, include outstanding indebtedness.

8 Appropriation includes credits on account of sales of card indexes to governmental institutions: For 1927, $706.71 credited and $21.58 yet to be credited; for 1928, $869.74 credited and $108.88 yet to be credited. Expenditures, 1928, include outstanding indebtedness.

Appropriation includes amounts withdrawn for retirement fund: For 1927, $3,737.09; for 1928, $4,166.17; for 1929, amount not yet determined. Also expenditures, 1928, include retirement deductions.

10 Appropriation, 1929, includes $1,900 for uniforms for guards.