Research Guides: Chinese Special Collections: Pang Jingtang Collection -- 龐鏡塘藏書

Rare Materials in Pang Jing Tang Collection 龐鏡塘藏書珍品系列

Introduction 龐鏡塘藏書简介

Pang Jingtang Collection of Rare Chinese Materials were officially donated to UBC Library by Pang Jingtang’s grandchildren in 2010 and 2014, while part of the collection was already deposited in the library in 2000. This collection is the largest and best rare Chinese materials gift received by libraries in North America in the past two decades. Although this collection is not the largest in amount, it has a wide variety of materials. The collection contains about 200 titles in 1000 volumes/items, including Chinese rare books, stele rubbings, celebrity correspondences as well as original painting and calligraphy scrolls, which cover Chinese classics, philosophy, history and literature.
Most of the collection, including 115 titles in 899 volumes/items of materials, except the 78 items of scrolls, were catalogued in 2014-2015 by the international project “Discovering Modern China: University of Washington (UW) & University of British Columbia (UBC) Collections” granted by Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).
The most important feature of Pang Jingtang Collection is its books are very rare. This collection is the best part among all of Pang’s collections. There are many precious editions among Chinese rare books and stele rubbings, and some of them are even the only existing copies. Within the 71 titles of rare edition books,34 titles are Ming editions and there are also many early editions of Qing dynasty, manuscripts, books with commentaries and books collected by celebrities. There are also some stele rubbings from Ming Dynasty or even earlier time, and several bronze and jade rubbings are even more precious. But the collection was not preserved well before donated to the library, most items were in very poor condition and need conservation and preservation treatment before circulating or for any other uses. The collection is not systematic in terms of content and there is some misinformation in original cataloguing descriptions.

龐鏡塘藏書是由龐境塘的孙子女於2010年和2014年分兩批捐贈給UBC圖書館的，其中部分藏書早在2000年就已經寄存在圖書館中。這是近二十年來北美地區圖書館接收的數量最多、質量最高的一批中文善本資料捐贈品。這些藏品雖然數量不大，但是類型多樣，經史子集類都有涉及。龐境塘藏書包含約200種1000冊/件，除了有中文古籍善本書外，還包括碑帖拓片、名人手札、书画卷軸、以及扇面等等，因此UBC圖書館正式將其命名為 “龐境塘中文善本資料專藏”，簡稱“龐境塘藏書”。

在2014-2015年期間，在梅隆基金会项目的支持下，UBC圖書館將這些藏品進行了整理編目，共整理出115種，899冊/件，包括中文善本圖書、碑帖拓片及照片、名人手札、繪畫冊葉、扇面集等等，另有78軸/件卷軸式資料尚待整理。

龐鏡塘藏書的一個最為顯著特點，就是版本價值極高，是龐境塘全部藏書中的精品。無論是善本書還是碑帖拓片，許多都是珍本、稀本，甚至是孤本。在全部71種古籍善本書中，明板書就佔了近一半34種，另外還有許多清初刻本、稿本、抄本、批校本、名家收藏本等等。在碑帖拓片中，也不乏明代或更早的舊拓，其中幾軸青銅器和玉器的全形拓，更是彌足珍貴。書畫卷軸也多出自清代以及近代的名家之手。當然，這些藏品也有其不足之處，內容上不成體系，書品狀況保存較差，未得到修复前不宜阅览或作其他用途，少量藏品原鑑定有誤等等。

Pang Jingtang Collection can be viewed in Rare Books and Special Collection Room in UBC library.
Address: Room 110, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
Call number: Asian Rare-4
龐鏡塘藏書可在圖書館善本閱覽室閱覽，地址：Room 110, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre。藏書號Asian Rare-4。

Biography of Pang Jing Tang 龐鏡塘生平

Pang Jingtang was born in Heze, Shandong China in 1900 and died in 1977. His former name was Pang Xiaoqin and courtesy name Heiyuan. He was the grandson of Pang Yupu, the naval commander in chief in Guangdong-Guangxi jurisdiction, Qing Dynasty. He held several positions of high profile in government, military as well as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during the regime of Chiang Kai-shek in mainland China. He was captured by the Communist Army during a war in 1948, and released in 1960. He liked collecting books and owned more than 90,000 volumes of books. After he was released, he donated more than 10,000 volumes of his collection in Jinan to the government.

Part of Pang Jingtang’s collection was first brought to Taiwan in 1949 by his wife Yang Baolin, and later brought to Vancouver by their youngest daughter Pang Yi. After she died in 2000, her son Fang Zhihao (English name is Paul M. Fang) discussed with his sisters and thought it would be more meaningful to donate their grandfather’s collection to UBC Library than to keep them at home. In that case, people in the world would have the opportunity to access and appreciate the entire collection from their grandfather. Therefore, Paul contacted the Asian Library. Eleanor Yuen, Head of Asian Library, and Yim Tse, Director of Chinese Language Collection, received the donated books.
龐鏡塘（1900-1977），原名庞孝勤，号嘿园，山東菏澤人，清代两广水师提督庞玉璞之孙，歷任國民黨要職，1948年濟南戰役中被解放軍俘虜，成為戰犯，1960年被第二批特赦。據記載, 龐鏡塘藏書達9萬余冊。特赦後，他將留在濟南的一萬余冊圖書捐獻給國家。

UBC這批藏書最早是由其夫人楊寶琳于1949年帶到臺灣，後又由其小女兒龐禕帶到溫哥華。龐禕去世後，方志豪（Paul M. Fang）与他的姐妹商量，一致認為將外公的藏書捐給UBC圖書館, 讓加拿大愛好中國古籍及書法之人閱覽，比留在家裡更有意義。方志豪遂聯繫亞洲圖書館，說明捐贈意向。之後，UBC亞洲圖書館的館長Eleanor Yuen和中文館員Yim Tse接收了這批藏書。