02 Dec 2008

Long Before Gutenberg: the Oldest Book in the [National] Library [of Australia]
The National Library of Australia (NLA), Canberra, Australia
Supplied note: "The latest print and online National Library of Australia News, December 2008, contains an article by Andrew Gosling [NLA's Chief Librarian, Asian Collections from 1985 to 2003 - ed.] on the Fang Collection about China's history and culture, including the oldest printed work held by the National Library, a Chinese Buddhist volume dated 1162
http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2008/dec08/story-1.pdf
Chaoying Fang (Fang Zhaoying),1908-1985, was a distinguished historian and bibliographer, whose collection of around 6,000 books in Chinese and Western languages was acquired by the National Library in 1961. The article briefly outlines Fang's life in China, the United States and the period he spent at the Australian National University (1961-1963). It also describes his collection, particularly the 1162 Chinese volume from the Da ban ruo bo luo mi duo jing ('Greater sutra of the perfection of transcendent wisdom',) as well as rare early European works on China. - ag."
URL http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2008/dec08/dec08news.html
Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/
Link reported by: Andrew Gosling (andrewgosling--at--netspeed.com.au)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]: Library
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30