A Social History of the Chinese Book: Books and Literati Culture in Late Imperial China
by Joseph P. McDermott
Hong Kong University Press, $175
In the early 19th century, six keys, one brought by each branch of a family lineage, were needed to unlock the door of a private library in Ningpo. Another local family so much wanted access to this library that they married their daughter into the family who owned it. But the new bride found that, as a woman, she couldn't enter. Allegedly, she died of frustration. Her dying wish to her husband was that she might be buried at the foot of the steps to the library.
Other private library owners in late imperial China were also extraordinarily protective of their books. Some placed library buildings on islands and had the wooden planks providing access removed overnight.
Some would-be book readers in modern Hong Kong say certain local institutions unfairly restrict access to their collections; but there are historical precedents and not just on the mainland. Medieval Oxford colleges, for example, had similarly protective practices.