[KS] Bishop Mark Napier Trollope

[Ross King]

Bishop Trollope's library ended up in what is now the Rare Book Collection of Yonsei University Library (Bishop Rutt's book on Gale includes some snippets of information about the Trollope collection and its fate in the endnotes). Trollope and J S Gale went around buying books together for the Kyung Shin School, and bought and sold old Korean books from/to each other. I am working on a full accounting of Gale's book-collecting activities for a paper I'm giving at the Kyujanggak in late December, and should have a more precise story to tell then. 

I would be curious to know whether and to what extent the Yonsei Library Rare Book section acknowledges the significant collecting activity conducted by both Gale and Trollope that would later benefit their collection. It seems that this is rather glossed over, as the recent multi-volume translation of the important early-19th c. yadam collection, _Kimun ch'onghwa_, translated by Kim Tong-uk, is oblivious to the fact that the edition translated was purchased by Gale on behalf of Kyung Shin School (Gale himself translated about 20% of this extensive collection--stay tuned for a book on this edited by myself and Sinae Park). In any case, the Yonsei Library seems to be rather too casual when it comes to the provenance of many of its rare books.

Bishop Trollope's private papers and correspondence, on the other hand, probably survive in England, in the Anglican missionary archive in Manchester (? there is an impressive website with preliminary finder lists); I suppose it is possible that the odd book or two might be among his papers, but I rather doubt it. What _would_ be interesting to know is whether there is any significant Gale correspondence among his papers, as Gale himself was lousy at keeping copies of his correspondence, or at least, the Gale archive as it survives in Toronto has little or no personal correspondence, which is a pity, as he and Trollope were quite close and were pretty much the only two westerners in Korea back then who knew hanmun. (Gale, on the other hand, kept rather detailed records of all his book-buying activities, as his purchases were usually transacted with the monies of others; he had no money of his own, and complained constantly that Japanese collectors had more or less 'strip-mined' the rare book market).

RK

> color:#003300'Dear members,
> color:#003300'I wonder if anyone would have information or know the whereabout
> of the library of Bishop Mark Napier Trollope.
> color:#003300'In the
> book Mark Napier Trollope Bishop in Corea 1911-1930 (London:
> Society for promoting Christian knowledge, 1936, p.16, it is mentioned
> that he was a keen collector of old Korean books, his library of old Korean
> books numbered something round ten thousand volumes, and contains many
> priceless editions. Any information would be much appreciated.
> color:#003300'Best regards,
> color:#003300'
> color:#003300'Minh Chung
> color:#003300'The Bodleian Library 
> color:#003300'University of Oxford
--
Ross King
Professor of Korean and Head,
Department of Asian Studies, 
University of British Columbia, 

and 

Dean, Korean Language Village, 
Concordia Language Villages

Mailing address: 
Ross King, Department of Asian Studies, UBC
Asian Centre, 1871 West Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
CANADA

vox: 604-822-2835
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http://www.asia.ubc.ca/people/faculty/ross-king.html