Libraries of Western Learning for China. Circulation of Western Books Between Europe and China in the Jesuit Mission (ca. 1650 - ca. 1750)

After having described the acquisition process of the Western books in the China mission (vol. 1) and their disposition in the libraries of the Jesuit colleges and residences spread over China (vol. 2), in this last volume we arrive on the level of the individual books and their manifold, various contents. Through a classification of the titles of both the extant books and those only indirectly known through achival sources in 24 classes, we try to get a grasp on the very differentiated reading and interests of the Jesuit in China, which cover the entire range from Bible and exegesis through science and history to linguistics and 'Belles Lettres'; from incunabula to late-18th century productions, reflecting consecutive phases of contemporary European culture such as Late Humanism, the 'New Science', Cartesianism, Newtonism and Enlightenment. We try to understand the circulation and the use of these books in China, in direct relation to the (not always aligned) opinions of the individual Jesuits, their activities in China and their engagement in the ongoing polemics in Europe on the position and methods of the mission itself. The real cornerstone of this entire library-project is the transmission of these contents to the Chinese 'literati', by analyzing the evidence of the Jesuits' reading and working with these books in view of their teaching and writing, and the reception of all this by the Chinese, in which this entire project, started ca. 1610, reached its final aims.