沉痛哀悼一代宗師錢存訓先生

昨日，美國芝加哥大學東亞圖書館館長周原博士訃告：全球聞名的圖書館學大師、美國芝加哥大學榮譽教授、原東亞圖書館館長錢存訓先生於2015年4月9日下午在美國芝加哥駕鶴西去，享年105歲。一代宗師，與世長辭，驚悉噩耗，萬分悲痛！

錢存訓先生是20世紀以來全球最偉大的華美圖書館學宗師、最傑出的中國造紙技術史大師、美國東亞圖書館的卓越奠基人和開拓者。錢存訓先生1928年考入金陵大學攻讀圖書館學，1932年畢業以後，先後就職於上海交通大學圖書館和國立北平圖書館南京辦事處，抗戰爆發後，於1941年冬受命護送國立北平圖書館的30萬冊珍貴古籍善本至美國國會圖書館寄存，後受邀擔任美國芝加哥大學東亞圖書館館長和芝加哥大學遠東語言與文明系教職，1957年獲美國芝加哥大學博士學位。1962年，其博士學位論文以《書於竹帛》為書名由美國芝加哥大學出版社正式出版，並迅速被翻譯成中文、日文、韓文等多種文字，在國際學術界產生十分廣泛的影響。1978年，錢存訓先生應英國劍橋大學中國科學技術史大師李約瑟教授的邀請，主編《中國科學技術史》之中國造紙與印刷技術史卷。1984年，錢存訓先生著《中國科學技術史》第5卷第1冊《紙與印刷》正式出版，成為研究中國古代造紙術和印刷史的頂級學術著作。

錢存訓先生一生筆耕不輟，著述等身，學術成就遍及中國造紙技術史、印刷技術史、古籍版本學、目錄學、圖書館學等多個領域，影響至為深遠。在擔任美國芝加哥大學東亞圖書館館長期間，錢存訓先生白手起家，將芝加哥大學東亞圖書館締造成為西方最為著名的東亞圖書館之一，貢獻卓越。在擔任芝加哥大學遠東語言與文明系教授和圖書館學研究生院教授期間，培養了一大批傑出的圖書館學家，桃李滿天下，美國哈佛大學哈佛燕京圖書館館長鄭炯文先生、普林斯頓大學東亞圖書館館長馬泰來先生等一批美國東亞圖書館的傑出領袖均是錢存訓先生的得意門生。在20世紀以來的美國東亞圖書館發展史上，前有裘開明先生，後有錢存訓先生，惟此二者堪稱宗師，無人可以出其右。

錢存訓先生一生熱愛祖國，一生致力於將抗戰時期寄存於美國國會圖書館的國立北平圖書館珍貴古籍善本歸還中國國家圖書館，惜因中美關係和海峽兩岸關係的原因，一直未果，引為至憾。改革開放以後，錢存訓先生多次往返中美之間，致力於推動中美圖書館界的交流與合作。新世紀後又將個人的全部藏書捐贈給母校南京大學，設立錢存訓圖書館，以嘉惠學林，獎掖後學。錢存訓先生尊師重道，一生對授業恩師北劉南杜（劉國鈞、杜定友）無比崇敬，凡北劉南杜的隻字片語均珍愛不已，迄今保存著不少當年從大陸帶到美國如今在大陸極其罕見的北劉南杜文字。近20年來，錢存訓先生一直在關注國內的北劉南杜學術研究，曾多次來信和發電子郵件囑後學收集北劉南杜的相關研究資料，其尊師重道之精神令人感佩！錢存訓先生對年輕人關愛有加，提攜獎掖不已，深受大洋兩岸學人的尊崇。後學結識錢存訓先生已近30年，但是並沒有多少機會親近錢存訓先生，多限於書信和電子郵件往來。儘管如此，錢存訓先生對後學亦不遺餘力地獎掖提攜。後學編輯《裘開明圖書館學論文選集》時，錢存訓先生欣然賜序，褒獎鼓勵；7年前，後學專程赴芝加哥拜見，錢存訓先生在自己的宅第盛情款待，親自調製咖啡和沏茶，並不顧98歲高齡親自陪同後學赴芝加哥唐人街，在上海餐館設午宴款待後學，餐敘數小時，令人感動不已，迄今記憶猶新。

錢存訓先生的仙逝是中美，乃至世界圖書館界的一個重大損失，我們為失去這樣一位德高望重、學貫中西的一代宗師深感悲痛！謹以此文，深切哀悼錢存訓先生。

錢存訓先生永垂不朽！

附周原博士發來的英文訃告

Tsuen-hsuin (T.H.) Tsien, Curator Emeritus of the East AsianCollection of the Joseph Regenstein Library and Professor Emeritusof Far Eastern Languages and Civilizations (now East AsianLanguages and Civilizations) of the University of Chicago, passedaway in Chicago yesterday, April 9, 2015, at the age of 105. T.H.lived a long and extraordinarily full life. He liked to say that hewas born under the last emperor of China, in 1909, in Taixian,Jiangsu, China. In 1927, before entering university, heparticipated in the Northern Expedition, a military effort of theNationalist government of China that resulted in the unification ofChina. In 1928, T.H. entered Jinling University (the precursor ofNanjing University), from which he was graduated in 1932 with adegree in Library Science. After graduation, he worked first inShanghai at the Jiaotong University Library, and then in Nanjing atthe Nanjing Branch of the Peking Library (the forerunner of theNational Library of China). In December, 1941, he was personallyresponsible for shipping 300,000 rare books from the library to theUnited States Library of Congress for safe-keeping during the war;the books left the port of Shanghai, then still an open city, justdays before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and made it safelyto Washington. After the conclusion of the war, T.H. went toWashington to arrange for the return of the books. However, theoutbreak of civil war in China made their return at the timeimpossible, and T.H. remained in America together with the books.In 1947, Herrlee G. Creel (1905-1994; Martin A. Ryerson ProfessorEmeritus of Chinese Studies at the University) invited T.H. to theUniversity of Chicago to manage the Far Eastern Library (now EastAsian Collection). T.H. remained in Chicago thereafter.

It is no exaggeration to say that T.H. Tsien was the mostinfluential Chinese librarian in America. Not only did he developone of the country』s greatest East Asian libraries at theUniversity of Chicago, but he also trained a generation of studentsfor East Asian libraries around the country including those whowent on to head the East Asian libraries at Harvard and Princeton.In addition, his published scholarship continues to have a profoundinfluence on the fields of Chinese bibliography, paleography, andscience and technology. He received a Ph.D. from the University ofChicago in 1957; his dissertation, published by the University ofChicago Press in 1962 as Written on Bamboo and Silk: TheBeginnings of Chinese Books and Inscriptions, is still regardedas a classic in the field. In 1978, after retiring from hisposition as Curator of the East Asian Collection, T.H. accepted aninvitation from Joseph Needham to participate in Needham』s greatScience and civilisation in China project. In 1984, T.H.contributed Vol. 5.1: Paper and Printing, the first volumein the series to be published under a name other than Needham』s.After this time, he remained active. In 2011, his book CollectedWritings on Chinese Culture, was published by the ChineseUniversity of Hong Kong Press. It includes thirty essays on「Ancient Documents and Artifacts,」 「Paper, Ink, and Printing,」「Cultural Exchange andLibrarianship,」「Biographies of Eminent Scholars,」「Memoir of a Centenarian,」 and 「Essays about the Author.」 Thevolume also contains prefaces by Edward L. Shaughnessy and AnthonyC. Yu, his colleagues at the University of Chicago, relating manymore of his contributions to the University and to scholarship.

T.H. Tsien has now rejoined his beloved wife Wen-ching Hsu, whowas one of the first instructors of Chinese at the University, andhis eldest daughter Ginger, both of whom passed away in 2008. He issurvived by two other daughters, Mary Tsien Dunkel and GloriaTsien, as well as by his nephew Xiaowen Qian, Assistant to theCurator for the East Asian Collection of the Regenstein Library. Hehas established a legacy that will endure as long as scholarscontinue to value books.