A collection of diverse printed & ms. material, etc. All housed in a small vellum-covered trunk (Wang Yuantai Brand) with a Chinese style brass lock, measuring 39x25x21cm. Sichuan, dated between 1897 and, 1920.
A collection belonging to a Protestant missionary, documenting time spent in China from 1897–1920. The box houses many unrecorded Chinese imprints, and as such, serves as both an important record of Missionary activity and related printing in China.
Catholic missionaries had been active in Sichuan province since the 17th century but most of them were forced to leave after the Yongzheng Emperor proscribed Jesuit missionary activity throughout China in 1724. It was not until the late 19th century that Protestant missionaries from the China Inland Mission reached the western province again. John Arthur Hickman (1865-1927) was an Anglican affiliated to the Church Missionary Society. He arrived in the remote town of Shiquan (close to the Tibetan border) in 1895 together with his wife Agnes Alexandra (nee Snell). In 1903 they moved to Chungking (Chongqing). Overall they lived and worked in Sichuan for over twenty-five years until returning to Cornwall in 1920 where he became Rector at St. Keyne's Parish Church until his death in 1927.
In his work 'Pen Pictures from China', Hickman describes his journey on foot to Shiquan in order to preach the gospel: "One day I was preaching on the south side of the bridge, when a Chinese girl told me that her father kept an inn and would let some rooms to me. I went with her and noticed the sign over the door, "Heavenly Inn"! The interior was anything but heavenly. However, it was a chance to "sit tight," so I took the rooms at once for three years [...] One day, while I was preaching outside the city, I saw a well-dressed boy with a white cross, made of calico, sewn on the back of his coat. This boy was the youngest son of the most important man in the city. [...] What think you was the meaning of the white cross on the back of his little boy? It was to prevent my eating him! If that was the belief of the best educated man in the city, what must the ordinary people have believed?" (p. 3)
1. Anglican Church of China: Sheng shu ji lian [Collection of Holy Writings]. Ying hua shu guan, 1912. Unrecorded.
2. Shangdi de enci [The Mercy of God]. 15 pamphlets. Unrecorded.
3. Quan shi liang yan [Words of Wisdom]. Chengdu, Hua ying shu ju, 1911. Unrecorded.
4. Zhong hua sheng gong hui Sichuan xia jing xiao yi hui ji lu [Records of the Anglican Church of China's Small Council in Sichuan]. Chengdu, Hua ying shu ju, 1916. Unrecorded.
5. Zhong hua sheng gong hui Sichuan xia jing xi qu qu yi hui yi shi lu [Minutes of the Western District Council of the Anglican Church of China in Sichuan Province]. Mianyang County, Fu yin tang, 1916. Unrecorded.
6. Zhong hua sheng gong hui Sichuan xia jing xi qu qu yi hui yi shi lu [Minutes of the Western District Council of the Anglican Church of China in Sichuan Province]. 1920. Unrecorded.
7. Song zhu sheng shi cuo yao [A Collection of Hymns praising the Lord]. Sichuan, Jiao wen guan, 1902. Unrecorded.
8. Jian bai li wen [Writings Concerning Resolute Propriety]. Chengdu, Hua ying shu ju, 1914. Unrecorded.
9. Fu yin shi ge [Gospel Hymns] Zhongba Village, Fuyin tang, 1914. 2 copies
10. Gong dao shu [Book of Prayers]. Lacking imprint, rodent damage to last 25leaves.
11. Xin Nü er jing [New Classic for daughters]. Shiquan District, Tianzu hui 1908. Unrecorded
12. Zao dao wen [Morning Prayer] Chengdu, Hua ying shu ju, 1914. Unrecorded
13. Leaflet: Ouzhou dan qing [European War Situation] 3 copies. Measuring 28x21cm. Fine condition. No imprint. 1916. Unrecorded.
14. 9 news bulletins 'China for Christ Messenger', No. 1-10 (lacking no. 6). Each measuring 34x21cm. This was a campaign initiated by the China Continuation Committee in Shanghai to spread the gospel to the millions in remote regions. Each issue contains a calendar with important Christian feast days as well as a short essay by missionaries from various locations. 1915. Unrecorded.
15.Rev. Huh May-ung [i.e. Hickman]: Sheng gong hui bao - The Chinese Churchman – The organ of the Anglican Communion in China. Vol. 2, no. 11. Shanghai Nov. 1909
16. Hickman: Pen Pictures from China. [London], Church Missionary Society, 1920. Together with an original photograph used for the cover of that publication.
17. Hostel Rules & Constitution for the Chengdu Furen Boarding House (measuring 27.5x23cm & 34x24cm respectively). Unrecorded.
18. 2copies of the Chengdu zhonghua Jidujiao lianhe zizhi-hui Sichuan-bu zanxing zhangcheng - Temporary Regulations of the Chengtu Chinese Christian Union Self-Government Society. 12mo. n.d. Unrecorded.
19. Xin min chu yan - Present Day Tracts. no. 2 "Honesty". 12mo Chengdu, Hua ying shu ju, 1914.
20. Five Passports for J. A. Hickman issued by the British Consulate General (Chungking, Chengdu, I-chang) 1897-1915. Large sheets, measuring between 42x53cm & 73x42cm. As well as four other travel permits.
21. Tong wen bao - The Chinese Christian Intelligencer, a church and family newspaper, published weekly in Shanghai. February 16th, 1916. 5 large folding broadsheets.
22. 3 illustrated colour lithograph sheets (numbered 1, 5, & 10) showing the 'Sick of the Palsy', 'The Sower', & 'Labourers in the Vineyard', measuring 17x24cm. "Distriburtion Fund" Edition. Shanghai, C. T. S. n.d. [but ca. 1910].
23. Large folded woodblock print on yellow paper, headline with date 'Guangxu er shi yi nian [1895]. Lunar calendar for the yi-wei year, measuring 52x34cm. Printed in Shiquan District.
24. Folder containing 30 small printed ephemera, lucky charms, receipts, small letters addressed to Hao Man'en (some on decorated notepaper), Christmas and New Year's notes etc. many of them using honourifics like 'teacher' to address him.
25. Three small paintings of landscapes by a Chinese artist, incl. one fan-shaped.
26. Large folding woodblock printed sheet measuring 98x54cm, entitled "The following is a list of donations received and paid by various churches of the Anglican Church in Sichuan Province in the second year of the Xuantong reign." (1911).
27. 288 Chinese small name-cards (printed & ms.) various sizes.
28. 71 Chinese large name-cards (printed & ms.) black ink on red paper (incl. the Consul General, Tao-tai, officials, viceroy, judges, a Japanese major, a Foreign Office Deputy, a Brigadier etc.), measuring between 9x18cm and 12x24cm.
29. 66 namecards for John Arthur Hickman using his Chinese name 'Hao Man’en' (some printed, some ms. on red paper), 40 of them inscribed by him with quotations from the Bible. Measuring 10x19cm, together with three envelopes and other ms. ephemera on red paper.
30. 16 copies of oblong sheets of Christian hymns, entitled 'tian sheng jiao ge'. Woodblock printed, measuring 42x19.5cm
31. An officially endorsed list of names entitled: 'List of student names for each class at Beichuan County Higher Primary School'
32. One family portrait silver-gelatine photograph of a high-ranking family, measuring 15x10.5cm.
33. Red leather wallet with the Chinese characters 'hu shu' [protecting letters] embossed on front. Measuring 14x25 (folded).
34. Two metal Shadow puppet figurines (defective, one of a lion god ?, one female).
