• Tsæn-me S. = Zanmeishi (A hymn book)
  贊美詩

Compiler:

• Rankin, Henry Van Vleck, 1825-1863

Publisher:

• Nying-po ; 1860.
• [宁波] : [华花圣经书房?], 1860.

Extent:

• 78 unnumbered leaves ; 24 cm

Format:

• Book

Description:

• A collection of 166 hymns romanized into colloquial Ningpo from the Chinese. A large number of them was taken from a hymn book, Tsaen-me S, printed in 1857, in 122 pages containing 111 hymns, by various Ningpo missionaries that might include W.A.P. Martin and his brother Samuel Newell Depew Martin.
• On folded leaves, stitch bound.
• Princeton copy 1: "May 24, '21, H. V. [sic.] Rankin, '73 gift"--inscription penciled on the first leaf.

Subject:

• Hymns, Chinese
• Presbyterian Church—Hymns
• Chinese language—Dialects—China—Ningbo Shi—Texts
• Chinese language—Transliteration—Texts
• Hymn texts

Former owner:

• Rankin, Henry William, 1851-1937

Edm rights:

• Copyright Not Evaluated

View in catalog:

• https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/9930372423506421

Curator's notes:

• Henry Van Vleck Rankin (Lanjin 蘭金, 1825–1863)

  Chinese (Ningbo dialect)
  Ningbo (Nying-po), 1860, paper

  When Protestant missionaries were allowed into China after the First Opium War (1839–1842), some adopted Chinese printing technology while also investing in Western presses. Needing to learn spoken languages rather than Classical Chinese for their proselytization, they developed romanizations for “dialects” such as the one spoken in Ningbo, a treaty port. Their printed books were often of a hybrid form; the Hymns book shown here is bound in Chinese style, printed in Western layout, on folded Chinese paper.

  Gift of Henry William Rankin, Class of 1873
  Princeton Special Collections, N-003610

  For further reading

  Chen, Minjie. “Opium, Gospel, and the Conquest of the Babel.” Cotsen Children’s Library Blog (December 2, 2022). Accessed May 20, 2025. https://blogs.princeton.edu/cotsen/2022/12/opium-gospel-babel/