ASIA.
The early history of libraries in Japan is involved with that of China and presents no important distinctions. During the last quarter of the 19th century, however, the great transformation produced in Japan by the introduction of Western ideals and methods has had an influence equally far-reaching upon the libraries. These are now modeled upon accepted modern systems and a number are large and very active.
The most important is, of course, the Im perial Library at Tokio, founded in 1872. This is a reference library and contains about 298,663 volumes, of which one-half are Japanese and Chinese works. There are several other large collections in Tokio. among them the University Library (1872; 491,082 vols.) • the Imperial Cabinet Library (1885; 507,500 vols.); the Hibaya Library 153,000 vols.) ; and the Waseda University Library (1902; 151,000 vols.).
There are also large libraries at other places, notably the Imperial University Library (291,117 volt., mainly technology) and the Fukuoka Medical College (113,000 medical at Kioto. Osaka has a public library containing 109,186 volumes, of which 8,218 are in the native tongues. There are, in addition, collections of books in nearly all the cities and towns. None of these are large, but the gov ernment is encouraging their development in every way, and undoubtedly the future of Japanese libraries is bright.
China. Very little is known regarding the library history of China, yet it is believed that collections were formed' at an early period. Huang-ti, one of the semi-mythical emperors, is said to have organized a board of historians to collect and transcribe the records of the empire. It is known, too, that the so-called °First Emperor" (221 ac.) decreed that all books save those on medicine, magic and agri; culture should be burned, and himself took charge of the censoring of the books. It was only through concealment that many treasures of Chinese learning, including the works of Confucius, were saved from destruction. Hsiao Wu (139-86 ac.) established what were known as °Repositories," the Chinese equiva lent of the modern reference library. During the first century before Christ, Liu Hsiang (80-9 a.c.) and his son were commissioned to transcribe the masterpieces of Chinese litera ture and form a library. An annotated cata logue resulting from their labors which con tains 11,332 entries is still extant.
There are also records of Chinese travelers, particularly Buddhist priests, who brought books from India and elsewhere into China and translated them into the vernacular. Of these Fa Hsien (circa. 400 A.D.) and Hsuan
(629 A.D.) are of especial consequence.
The National Library at Peking was formed originally from a collection of 100,000 bamboo books and the Shu King, which had been con cealed from destruction. These were added to by successive dynasties, but suffered many losses by fire and war. At present the library has about 200,000 volumes and manuscripts. There are collections at Canton and other cities. These are mainly for reference use only. There are a few small modern libraries in China, the one at Boone University being of some importance.
• India.— There are many libraries in India, both native and foreign. Few, however, of them are of considerable size. The largest collection is doubtless that of the Imperial Library, Calcutta (1891; 152,000 vols.). The Royal Asiatic Society has collections at both Calcutta and Bombay, the latter numbering 80,000 volumes. In general, particularly in the British ruled states, the interest in libraries has not been very keen, the greatest development along modern library lines being in a few of the native states. A most remarkable instance is that of the state of Baroda. The library movement here was initiated by the Maharaja of Baroda, a highly enlightened and clear visioned ruler. Under direction of an Amer ican librarian, Mr. Borden, a modern library system has'been established which comprehends every portion of the state, all administered from the Central Library, a reference collec tion of 200,000 volumes housed in a beautiful building, a former palace of the Maharaja. All the libraries are state supported, and free to everyone without restriction of caste or tion. A library school has also been established for training native librarians.
The only other state having a free library system is Indore. There are libraries at Madras, Benares, Allahabad and other cities but they are mainly used by scholars. A num ber of the native princes have made if a point to collect manuscripts, that of the Rajah of Tanjore being famous for its Sanskrit rarities. Eight thousand of its items are written on palm leaves.
Siam.—As a memorial to their father, the children of King Mong Kut founded a library in Bangkok. This was enlarged in 1904 and made the depository for the national archives. Its collections are divided into three sections: works in foreign languages, native languages and ancient languages. The last is of particular interest and contains over 100,000 items, many of them unique. The library also contains a collection of ancient inscribed stones.