The story of Qian Mu and the book

Qian Mu grew up in poverty and loved to read, and in his later years when he wrote his own life, his memories of his grandfather only mentioned two books. Among them, "a letter of the Five Classics was copied by hand, wrapped in cotton belts by the father in a boxwood version, and engraved with the four characters of 'Hand Ze Still Exists'", and the other is "a large-character engraved "Historical Record"". These two books deeply influenced the young Qian Mu, "Yu Zizhi read books, that is, loved the "History", and all of them were inspired by this book."

In 1909, when Qian Mu was in the third grade of Changzhou Fu Middle School, he happened to see his classmates reading "Zeng Wenzheng Gongjia Training", and he couldn't put it down without thinking about reading it. The next morning, Qian Mu ran to the off-campus bookstore to buy books. At that time, the door of the bookstore was spliced together with long wooden planks piece by piece, the store had just opened the door, the wooden board had not been unloaded, Qian Mu slid sideways through the crack in the door, and asked if there was "Zeng Wenzheng Gong family training", and even the family book was paid for. Since then, the bookstore has become Qian Mu's private library, which has helped him greatly.

In 1914, Qian Mu taught at the Wuxi County No. 4 Higher Primary School, and sent the manuscript of the Analects of the Analects that he had been teaching for several years into a book, "On the Interpretation of Languages", which was sent to the Commercial Press and published with a copyright fee and a manuscript fee of 100 yuan. However, it is not cash, but the 100-yuan book coupon of the Commercial Press, and can only buy books (not limited to publications of the Commercial Press). Qian Mu used this hundred-yuan coupon to fill the lack of his own subset of the history of the classics, and he said with emotion: "Since then, Yu's learning has advanced again." This 100-yuan book coupon is actually of great benefit to Yu. ”

Qian Mu taught at Yenching University and Peking University from 1930 onwards, and lived in Beiping for a total of eight years. In addition to teaching and learning, I go to the used book market to look for books, and there are often unexpected surprises. Among them, the rare books that are not forgotten are:

First, the first eight volumes of Gu Zuyu's Minutes of Reading the History of Public Opinion were inscribed during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. After Qian Mu got it, he wrote an article and published it in the semi-monthly magazine of Yugong.

Second, the family heirloom of the "Testament of Zhang Shizhai". After class one day, Mao Zishui, director of the Peking University Library, went to the lounge of the Department of History to find Qian Mu, and sent a manuscript of the "Zhang Shizhai Testament" to the market, not knowing whether it was valuable, and wanted to ask Qian Mu to identify it. After careful investigation, Qian Mu found that this book was indeed a family heirloom of the Zhang family. This book can almost be said to be a lone book, extremely precious. If the answer is that there is no value, this orphan book must return to the old bookstore, and Qian Mu can take it for himself. But thinking that the public collection could be read by the public, Qian Mu told Director Mao that he could buy the treasure.

At the same time, Qian Mu let the assistant teacher record the content that was not seen in the engraving overnight, a total of more than 20 articles. When the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression moved south, Qian Mu hid these manuscripts at the bottom of his coat box and added a wooden plank to avoid inspection (why should he check these "old paper piles", Qian Mu did not explain, now it is not known), and traveled to Hong Kong, Changsha, Kunming, and Chengdu. Later, Meng Wentong, director of the Sichuan Provincial Library, printed 200 copies, and the book was circulated.

Mao Zishui, director of the Peking University Library, did not buy the "Zhang Shizhai Testament" for the library, and the book was transferred to the Hu Shi family collection and finally disappeared.

Third, "Bamboo Book Chronicle Righteous Evidence", written by Lei Xueqi of Beitongzhou, a total of 40 volumes. Qian Mu visited the Beiping used book market without getting it, and later got a family manuscript at the Beiping Library. The book was donated by Lei's family, and President Cai Yuanpei asked Peking University to print it, and the printed copy flowed into the Beiping Library. After Qian Mu saw it, he posted a blueprint (copy) and added the relevant content to his book "The Year of the Sons of the Pre-Qin Dynasty". In 1937, Qian Mu handed over the blueprint to the bookstore for printing, and the book was circulated.

Qian Mutao's book collection is still for research. He had a copy of Zhu Shizeng's Bamboo Book Chronicles, which corrected many of the errors in the Kingdom Wei proofreading script. Fu Sinian had instructed various bookstores in Beiping to search for this book for him, but for several years without success. In the end, Qian Mu's book had to be borrowed and copied in the blue and stored in the library of the Academia Sinica.

Qian Mu recalled his eight years in Beiping: "More than 50,000 books were purchased in the five years before and after Yu, and when it was about 200,000 volumes. The income from the salary of the past years, the food and clothing, are exhausted here. ”

In 1937, the Anti-Japanese War broke out, and Peking University and other schools crossed to the south. Qianmu's large collection of books is difficult to transport, and it is even more difficult to find a place to hide books, and it is also necessary to dry them every summer. After much thought, Qian Mu temporarily made 20 large boxes, packed 200,000 volumes of books into boxes, and agreed with the owner that the house would no longer be rented to others, and that he would come back to pick up the books when there was peace.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Qian Mu did not return to Beiping, but taught at Jiangnan University in his hometown. The homeowner urged Qian Mu's friend Tang Yongtong to transport the book away. Tang Yongtong found a book estimate that Qian Mu was familiar with to take it, and the book estimate was willing to bid for 100 stone meters. At this time, Qian Mu was already in Guangzhou, and he instructed Tang Yongtong to let the book be properly preserved, and when he returned to Beiping, he would still redeem it at the price of 100 stone meters.

Later, Qian Mu was exiled to Hong Kong, and his old friend Shen Yanmou purchased books for the New Asia Research Institute and obtained a copy of the "Zizhi Tongjian". After Qian Mu looked at it, he found that it was actually the reading book of his eldest brother Qian Zhi (Qian Weichang's father) before his death, and there were many handwritings of his eldest brother in the book. The book appeared in Hong Kong, and the other 200,000 volumes can be imagined. At this time, Tang Yongtong had died, and the whereabouts of Qian Mu Beiping's books could not be inquired from then on.

Collected from the human world, scattered in the human world. The fragrance of books is endless, but only those who have the luck will get it.

(Bibliography of this article: Qian Mu, "Eighty Memories of Parents, Teachers and Friends Miscellaneous Memories", Yuelu Book Society, 1986.) ）