Chinese Rare Books

A collection of rare Chinese books from the UBC Asian Library collection composed mainly of works from the Puban (蒲坂藏書) and Pang Jingtang (龐鏡塘藏書).

The core of the Puban (蒲坂藏書) was originally a part of the famed Nanzhou Shu Lou (南州書樓), a large private library owned by Xu Shaoqi (徐紹棨) (1879–1948), a professor of Chinese literature and bibliography, curator of the Guangdong Provincial Library and one of the renowned bibliophiles of South China. The focus of the Nanzhou was primarily census and historical records, documents and literature of Xu’s native province. Some of these works are unique, original copies drawn from the Nanzhou materials that were transferred from the Mainland to the Yao (姚) Family in Macau during World War II. The new owner, Mr. Yao Junshi (姚鈞石), enlarged the collection with high quality works of a similar nature and gave it its present name, the Puban.

The Pang Jingtang (龐鏡塘藏書), acquired in 2000, is much smaller than the Puban with 94 titles and 841 volumes. Collected by its namesake who held high-profile military and political positions under the Chinese Nationalist Party, the Pang Jingtang includes works produced prior to 1796 including many Ming editions and a few manuscripts that may be sole existing copies.