Rare Book Exhibition

Banner for Rare Book Exhibition 2016

Rare Book Exhibition

  1. EXTENDED: China through Western Eyes: 16th and 17th Century Titles from The University of Hong Kong Libraries Exhibition

域外看中國 : 香港大學圖書館藏十六、十七世紀典籍

 

The Main Library will extend the China through Western Eyes: 16th and 17th Century Titles from The University of Hong Kong Libraries Exhibition to 20 October – 16 November 2016 with a change of venue to Special Collections, 1st Floor of the Main Library.

 

The Libraries’ collection of western rare books comprises over 11,700 volumes including the Morrison Collection and the China section of the Hankow Club Library. The strength of the collection lies principally in its titles on China and the Far East and includes many accounts of early travellers to Peking, particularly those of the Jesuit missionaries who held a privileged position at the Emperor’s Court long before other Europeans were able to reside in China. 

The exhibition offers a first-hand glimpse of the rare books originally authored by a number of Jesuit missionaries and those of other Catholic orders, as well as by explorers, scholars and merchants, including works by Alvaro Semedo (1585–1658), Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), Martino Martini (1614–1661), and Johannes Nieuhof (1618–1672).  Through these rare titles, you are invited to travel back in time to appreciate how China was once perceived and understood by westerners during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

 

Peter Sidorko
University Librarian

 

Details of the Exhibition
Date:   5 – 18 October 2016
Time:  08:30 – 22:00 (Monday to Friday) / 08:30 – 19:00 (Saturday) / 10:00 – 1900 (Sunday)
Closed on Public Holidays
Venue: 2/F Atrium/Exhibitions Area of the Main Library, HKU

For more information about the Western Rare Book Collection, please visit the Special Collections website at http://lib.hku.hk/hkspc/.