劉承幹與嘉業堂 -- 民國私人藏書第一人
Liu Chenggan and the Jiaye Library: China’s Premier Book Collector during the Republican Period
嘉業堂藏書印
Seals of Jiaye Library
對於未能收購的書籍，劉承幹便出資組織人員直接抄錄。例如從國史館抄出《清實錄》、《清國史》。劉氏對於自己珍藏的書籍，並沒有秘藏而不讓人觀看，反而在嘉業藏書樓中設置地方，讓學者前來讀書及抄書；他甚至免費借人複印，例如張元濟 (1867-1959) 編輯的《百衲本二十四史》，就是借嘉業堂藏的《舊五代史》來影印。除了公開自己的藏書外，劉承幹還積極刊刻書籍，就如明代毛晉 (1599-1659) 的汲古閣一樣，要把書籍刊刻，才能將稀世古籍永留人間。他延聘不少知名學者，如繆荃孫 (1844-1919)、楊鍾羲 (1865-1940)、葉昌熾 (1849-1917)、王舟瑤 (1859-1926)、陳毅 (1883-1950)、孫德謙 (1869-1935) 等人，校讎編審古籍。他雕版三萬餘片，刻書二百一十三種，刊刻《景宋四史》、《嘉業堂叢書》、《吳興叢書》，最為後世推崇。
劉承幹購藏書籍的目的在於實用，因此宋元本不超過二百部，與以收集宋本為主的 「皕宋樓」 相比，當然不及。但劉氏卻重視收集稿本鈔本，所收稿本鈔本達二千多種，例如翁方綱纂的《四庫全書提要》原稿一百五十冊、文源閣、文瀾閣的《四庫全書》、孤本《永樂大典》四十二冊，鈔本《清實錄》和《清國史》，均非常珍貴。
Liu Chenggan was keen to build up a collection that was functional in nature. He paid special attention to the collection of manuscripts based on their uniqueness. And when he was unable to acquire an original title, he hired transcribers to make a copy so as to add it to his collection. As a result, he collected more than 2,000 manuscripts. Items such as the Yongle Dadian (42 volumes) and the 150-volume Siku Quanshu Tiyao (A Synopsis of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries), compiled by Weng Fanggang (1733–1818), are extremely precious.
He was extremely generous in sharing his collection so as to ensure that the most rare titles would last forever. In addition to setting aside a corner in his library for visitors to read and copy his books, he made them available to publishers for duplication free-of-charge. He even served as a printer and recruited a number of well-known scholars to edit and proofread rare titles in his collection before reprinting them. Altogether he reprinted 213 titles after engraving more than 30,000 wooden blocks.
Though Liu Chenggan never took up any official position in the Qing government, he was awarded an honorary official title based on his contributions to relief work from 1909 to 1911. He pledged loyalty to Emperor Xuantong, the last Emperor of China, and he named his personal library by selecting inscriptions from one of the plaques presented to him by the Emperor.
原件藏浙江圖書館
Letter from Liu Chenggan to the Zhejiang Library, dated 19 November 1951
(original in the Zhejiang Library)
劉氏嘉業堂藏書樓自1924年建成，歷經抗日戰爭時期至新中國成立，最終亦因資金不足，劉氏被迫出售部份書籍，以維持生計。1951年11月19日劉承幹寫下了捐獻函，藏書化私為公，將嘉業堂藏書全數捐獻給浙江圖書館。捐獻全文如下：
敬啟者：承幹生平致力文化，搜羅典籍，在故鄉南潯建立嘉業藏書樓，庋書十餘萬冊，以供専門學者參考研究。會遭倭寇肆虐，遂致停頓，藏書亦散失一部分。承幹以年老，仍羈處滬瀆，抗戰勝利後迄未加以檢校。今幸我人民政府注重文物，蒙派 貴館整理代管，承幹平生心事將幸有托, 書物亦將歸得其所，曷勝欣抃！因即願將書樓與四周空地並藏書、書版連同各項設備等，悉以捐獻與
貴館永久保存，為發展新中國社會文化事業之需要。區區之忱，幸祈 鑒納，轉呈准行為禱。至於內有求恕齋書箱，均為重複之本，向係滬寓備作參考，不屬於藏書樓。嗣因滬寓房屋出售，運回寄放。又有自印各書及石印鉛印說部，以及碑拓字畫之類，擬請提出，仍歸承幹領回。諒荷
垂許，合並附陳。此致
浙江圖書館
劉承幹謹啟 (印) 一九五一年十一月十九日
劉承幹在函中簡要地說明建藏書樓之本意，以及表明劫後藏書應作如何安排。現在嘉業堂的藏書約半數為浙江圖書館收藏，其珍本精品則分別為中國國家圖書館 (原北京圖書館) 、復旦大學圖書館、香港大學馮平山圖書館、澳門中央圖書館、國家圖書館 (原國立中央圖書館) 、臺灣中央研究院、美國加州柏克萊大學東亞圖書館等妥善保存收藏，繼續為各方學者提供服務。
嘉業堂藏書樓位於浙江省湖州市的南潯鎮西南郊小蓮莊鷓鴣溪畔，1924年落成，因宣統帝曾賜 “欽若嘉業”九龍金匾而得名。藏書樓佔地二十四畝，主樓兩層呈回形，共五十二楹。藏書樓聘有編校人員及管理人員，還有注重通風、防火、防潮、防蟲等備置，建築雖傳統，但設備現代，儼然如一座現代的圖書館。
Located in Nanxun, the Jiaye Library was completed in 1924. It occupied an area of twenty-four mu (1.6 hectares) and was staffed with personnel responsible for the management of the site and for publishing activities. The two-storey main building was designed with specific emphasis on good ventilation and equipped with facilities to prevent fire, moisture and insects. In terms of facilities and design, the Jiaye Library very much resembled a modern library despite the fact that its building was constructed in a traditional manner.
The Library survived the Anti-Japanese War (1937–1945), but eventually Liu Chenggan ran out of money and had to sell part of the collection to maintain his livelihood. Eventually he donated the library, including the building and its collection of books and wooden blocks, to the Zhejiang Library on 19 November 1951. The Zhejiang Library currently owns about half of the Jiaye Library Collection. Libraries such as the National Library of China, Fudan University Library, Fung Ping Shan Library of the University of Hong Kong, Macao Central Library, Academia Sinica in Taiwan and the C.V. Starr East Asian Library of the University of California, Berkeley also hold some of the fine items from the collection.