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Far Eastern History E R N S T W O L F F OLDER BIBLIOGRAPH ES W TH THE WORD “Asi

Far Eastern History E R N S T W O L F F OLDER BIBLIOGRAPH ES W TH THE WORD “Asian” or “Oriental” in their titles often disappoint by covering only, or pre- dominantly, the “Near” or “Old Orient. However, since the Far East has come appreciably closer to the rest of the world in the more recent past, particularly since World War 11, even general historical bibliog- raphies, such as the International Bibliography of Historical Sciences,I the Foreign Affairs Bibliography,2 and the American Historical Associ- ation’s Guide to Historical Literature (1961) have chapters concern- ing the Far East that command the respect and attention of area- specialist historians, As the Far East in general has put itself on the map bibliographic- ally, so has the history of the Far East as a particular field of historical science in its own rights. In the past, historical bibliography of the Far East, particularly of Western literature on the Far East, was mostly part and parcel of the Sinologist’s all-encompassing concerns, The Sinologist generally saw classical Chinese philology and philosophy as the acme of his mktier, and history merely as a basic prerequisite. He preferred antiquity and disdained modern topics. However, this attitude is of the past. The old Sinological concept, which is still purposely followed in Herbert Franke’s Sirwlogie (1953) and which we may detect in Henri Cordier’s Bibliotheca ISinica ( 1904, supplement 1924) ,6 with Confucius and Mencius figuring large in the section “Historical Biog- raphy,” is no longer evident in T’ung-li Yuan’s China in Western Literature (1958) and John Lust’s Index Sinicus ( 1960),7 both works actually continuing Cordier, the former for monographs, the latter for periodical articles, but both set up in a modern, streamlined manner, where history is history, adequately subdivided and organized into periods, and as topical as possible. As far as Japan is concerned, Cordier had also provided a Biblio- Ernst Wolf€ is Consultant in Asian Bibliography, University of Illinois Library. APRIL, 1961 [ 745 1 ERNST WOLFF theca Japonica in 1912, but modern comprehensive bibliography of Western literature on Japan began with Wenckstern and Nachod,lo who established a kind of German hegemony in this field that ended only with the Second World War. The work has never thereafter been resumed on that scale and from then on the annual non-cumulative bibliographies, like those published by the Kyoto University 11 or the Association for Asian Studies,12 will have to serve the purpose. As to Korea, the development was very similar, namely from the old “Sinological” Courant bibliography, the Bibliographie Core’enne ( 1894-96) l3to the Gompertz compilation in Volume 40 (1963) of the Transactions of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,14 which calls itself First Section of a Bibliography of Western Literature on Korea from the Earliest Times until 1950, based on Horace H. Under- wood‘s A Partial Bibliography of Occidental Literature on Korea from Early Times to 1930 (Seoul, Korea, 1931 and 1935)) and presumably also on the Library of Congress compilation: Korea, an Annotated Bibliography of Publicatim in Western Languages ( 1950).I6 However, one cannot avoid feeling that the final word has not yet been said here and that a summarizing compilation on the lines of T. L. Yuan’s work for China is still awaited for Japan, as well as for Korea. (Just recently the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, or Society for International Cultural Relations, Tokyo, announced a Classified List of Books in Western Languages Relating to Japan, 1965, 450 pages. Actual copy has not yet been available for evaluation.) In the meantime as interest in the Far East has grown during the last few decades and in an accelerated manner after World War 11, a need arose for selective reading guides of the “What shall I read about . . . ?” type, more popular in nature, yet expertly selected. This need was adequately met, for instance, by such exemplary works as the Asian bibliographies of the American Universities Field Staff (1960, with 1961, 1963 and 1965 supplements),16 the bibliographies compiled by Hyman Kublin for the Japan Society l7 and the Asia So- ciety,ls the Booklist on Asia for Camdiuns,l9 produced by the Ca- nadian National Commission for UNESCO in 1961, and other similar works. All have sections on history, but emphasize general, rather than the specialized historian’s, interests. On the American campuses the “impact o f the Far East” has had the result of increased Far Eastern studies, which have been intro- duced even into the undergraduate and liberal arts curricula. The dearth of adequate research tools that became apparent resulted in LIBRARY TRENDS 7461 Far Eastern History the compilation of study guides with the special purpose of providing appropriate introductions and workable bibliographies of essential knowledge for students and faculty. In the field of Chinese studies, the old and oft-revised Syllabus o f the History o f Chinese Civilization, by Luther C. Goodrich and H. C. Fenn, was something of a trail-blazer ( 1929).20 It saw its sixth edition in 1958, but in recent years has been somewhat overshadowed by the bibliographical work of Charles 0. Hucker: China, a Critical Bibliog- raphy (1962),2l of which a revision is now in the process of prepara- tion. A notable recent study guide bibliography limited to the modern segment of Chinese history is the Zntroduction aux Etudes $Histoire Contemporaine de Chine, 1898-1949, by Jean Chesneaux and John Lust ( 1964).22 In the field of Japanese studies, the Selected List of Books and Articles on Japan , , , by H. Borton, S. Elisskeff, and E. 0.Reischauer (1940) was one of the first of such study guides and bibliographies “for convenient class-room work” and as “a general guide for students of Japan and for libraries with limited collections”23 It was repub- lished in 1954 (Harvard University Press) and “continued by the Toyo Bunko, Tokyo, with the scope “1945-1960” (Tokyo, 1964).24 Somewhat different, in that it provides a study guide to Japanese material, is Japanese History; a Guide to Japanese Reference and Re- search Materials, by John W. Hall (1954) 25 but its purpose is the same, namely to be an aid for students and faculties at colleges and universities. Its political science counterpart, Japanese Political Sci- ence; a Guide to Japanese Reference and Research Materials (revised 1961) by Robert E. Ward and Hajime Watanabe 26 may also be men- tioned here because in part also of interest to the student of history. A new high standard for books of this nature was set by the Re- search in Japanese Sources; a Guide, compiled by Herschel Webb with the assistance of Marleigh Ryan.27 Signscantly, for its spirit and scope, this excellent guide is the direct outgrowth of the courses in Japanese bibliography at Columbia University. In Japan itself the Library of the International House of Japan, Tokyo, has produced a “Japanese Winchell,” namely the Guide to Japanese Reference Books, the latest English edition of which was published by the American Library Association, Chicago, in 1966. Much older, but still continuing, are the efforts of the K. B. S. (Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, or Society for International Cultural Relations ) which had already been at work since 1934 on a series of study guides APRIL, 1967 [ 747 1 ERNST WOLFF in English, Its latest product of interest in this connection is Volume 3, “History and Biography” (1964), in its Bibliography of Standard Reference Books for Japanese Studies, with Descriptive Notes,2g an important scholarly guide to the reference and research material pro- duced in Japan. On a broader scope again and dealing with Western writings on Japan is Bernard Silberman’s Japan and Korea; a Critical Bibliography ( 1962),29 a “study guide” type bibliography that tries to cover both Japan and Korea. For Korea however, a much more comprehensive, well-annotated work is the Korean Studies Guide (1954, now out of print and badly in need of updating),30 prepared by B. H. Hazard and his associates at the Institute of East Asiatic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Korea itself has made an effort in this field with the Bibliog- raphy of Korean Studies,3I in English, published in 1961 by the Asiatic Research Center of Korea University, Seoul, a continuation of which is announced for 1966. From the above discussion of general bibliographies of Western literature on the Far East and of study guides for Western users, it is apparent that the native participation in such bibliographic work has been limited and is a rather recent development. When we con- sider vernacular writings on the Far East, particularly on its history, we find the history of indigenous bibliographic work is almost as old as the literary traditions in these countries. Western influences here merely brought about noteworthy modernizations in methods. The traditional “Four Department” classification (Classics, History, Philosophy, Literature) had to give way to more detailed and more appropriate subdivisions. Indexes have become a common feature of bibliographies to facilitate search, where formerly the time and con- venience of the searcher were given scant consideration. In place of uploads/Litterature/ far-eastern-history-the-so.pdf