C.V. Starr East Asian Library

The C.V. Starr East Asian Library is a library at Columbia University, holding collections for the study of East Asia in the United States.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] It is one of the largest East Asian libraries in North America, consisting of over one million volumes of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Mongolian, Manchu, and Western-language materials and almost 7,500 periodical titles, and extensive special collections. It is located in Kent Hall on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus.

History[]

The Columbia University copy of the Gujin Tushu Jicheng, rebound in a Western style by Professor Frederick Hirth for ease of handling

The library was established in 1902. The foundation for the library was a donation by Li Hongzhang on the behest of Empress Dowager Cixi of the 5,044 volume encyclopedia Gujin Tushu Jicheng, one of three copies of the book currently located outside of China. The Japanese collection began in 1927 by Professor Ryūsaku Tsunoda, who acquired some 5,000 volumes from the Japanese Imperial Household Agency. The Korean collection began in 1931 with a donation of nearly 1,000 by Korean students at Columbia.^[5]

Special collections[]

The special collections of the C.V. Starr Library holds rare books and materials including Chinese local histories and genealogies, Edo period woodblock-printed books, and rare Korean books, as well as Chinese oracle bones, a jade book in Manchu and Chinese, early-twentieth century Chinese paper god prints, and Japanese woodblock prints, maps, and paintings.^[5] The Japanese rare books and special collections include the Kōbō Abe collection, consisting of the original works and manuscripts of the author, as well as the Barbara Curtis Adachi Bunraku collection and the Makino Mamoru Collection on the History of East Asian Film.^[6] The library's Korean collection holds, among other things, an extremely rare early printed version of Yongbieocheonga, volumes 9 and 10, the first work ever written in Hangul.^[7] The Tibetan collection, which began actively collecting in the late 1990s, includes the manuscripts of Tibetan journalist Gegen Darje Tarchin and Anagarika Govinda, and several editions of the Tibetan Buddhist canon, some dating as early as the 14th century.^[8]