Treasures of the Royal Asiatic Society Shanghai Library with Tess Johnston and Paul French – 20/3/18

Tuesday, 20th March 2018
7:00 pm – 9:00 pmRAS Library

Treasures of the RAS Library

Speaker: Tess Johnston and Paul French

The old RAS Shanghai Library was resurrected in 2007; recreated thanks to donations and some selective purchasing from Society funds. After several moves it now resides in the House of Roosevelt with 3,000 books and associated archival materials. Within this collection are some amazing gems for the writer, researcher, scholar, or the just plain curious. Tess Johnston and Paul French have been involved with the library since it’s recreation as donors, cataloguers and active users. Join us for a glass of wine and some literary conversation as they select some choice “finds” from the collection, explain why they are truly unique and read a few revealing selections.

Tess Johnston is uniquely qualified to recommend treasures from the RAS Library. She first came to Shanghai in 1981 to work at the American Consulate General and in 1996, after over thirty years in the diplomatic service, she retired and stayed on to research, write, and lecture. Now living back in America she is working on her memoirs.

Paul French lived and worked in Shanghai for many years. He is a widely published journalist and commentator on China and has written a number of books, including a history of foreign correspondents in China and a biography of the legendary Shanghai adman, journalist and adventurer Carl Crow (whose archive resides in the RAS Library). French’s new book City of Devils is his much-anticipated second literary non-fiction book, following Midnight in Peking, which was a New York Times Bestseller.

Note: Due to limited seating, only those on the RSVP list will be admitted into the Library.