Scope and Contents Both seals are held in an old box, probably dating to World War II. One or other seal appears on several early acquisitions, such as the 周禮鄭註 from 傅斯年, though sometimes with later seals (such as 醫42, where 16B is on a book bought in 1964 with a 1964 seal). 編號 No.：16A 材質 Material：石 stone 尺寸 Size：1.60 × 1.60 cm 齋號章。与16B号在同一盒，材质、大小、图案均同。二戰時期所刻。 Style name seal. Another early seal bearing Needham’s preferred pseudonym or “style name” (see seal NRI2/8/6/2/29). From the same...

Scope and Contents 編號 No.：9 材質 Material：石 stone 尺寸 Size：3.62 × 1.50 cm齋號章。半圆体，较大。邊款刻“一九六四年九月登安刻于西泠印社”。 按：登安即韩登安（1905—1976），原名韩竞，中年以号为名。1932年入西泠印社，曾任西冷印社总干事，浙江文史馆馆员。 Style name seal. Carved by the artisan Deng An (1905-1976) in Hangzhou in 1964. Sheng means to be victorious, rong means scattered or confused, and zi is an appellation for a teacher or master. So this seal perhaps reflects Joseph Needham’s desire to bring order to scattered and confused textual references and ideas. See...

Scope and Contents

編號 No.：10 材質 Material：石 stone 尺寸 Size：1.70 × 1.70 cm

閒章。1964年夏購刻。 Whimsical seal. A seal bought in September 1964. It means to savour the essence of poetic verse.

Scope and Contents

編號 No.：11 材質 Material：石 stone 尺寸 Size：2.10 × 2.10 cm

閒章。1964年登安刻于西冷印社。有边款。参见同时所刻9号。李约瑟自绘样式一纸，上有“和光同塵”“胜冗子”，并注：“杭州饭店420号/李约瑟”。 Whimsical seal. Like NRI2/8/6/2/9, also carved by the artisan Deng An (1905-1976) in Hangzhou in 1964. The phrase originates from Laozi’s famous Daoist text the Daodejing, and means to hide one’s talent whilst remaining among society, so is similar in meaning to “hiding one’s light under a bushel”.

Scope and Contents

By Le Pu 樂圃, I. Groupp, Oct. 1972 See SCC5/4/23, a letter from I. Groupp to Joseph Needham, which provides background information about the seal. 9-14 in box “Tu 圖, 1964 zhang 章” [“seals dated 1964”].

Scope and Contents 15a) Inscription on seal: Ni Han yanjiu xuehui yin 暱漢研究學會印 Needham Research Association Seal by Zhou Chengbing or Zhou Dengbing周澄竝, 1988. 15b) Inscription on seal: Wei Zhongguo kexue jishu shi yong 為中國科學技術史用 by Chuan Qin 傳琴, Beijing, 1958.編號 No.：15B 材質 material：石 stone 尺寸 Size：2.90 × 2.90 cm特殊用章。大方印，钮上刻“不可一日无此君”。边款刻“戊戌年夏日传[？]琴刻于北京。”戊戌當1958年。是否購刻不詳。 Special use seal. Carved in the summer of 1958 in Beijing. It means “in the service of the history of...

Scope and Contents

編號 No.：12 材質 Material：象牙 ivory 尺寸 Size：2.05 × 2.10 cm

特殊用章。1964 9月26日北京東安市場委託北京刻字社篆刻，發票尚存。象牙章，钮为盘龙。 Special use seal. Bought on 26 September 1964 in Beijing at the Dongan shichang (see the receipt). It means “Gui [Lu Gwei-djen] and Se [Li Yuese / Joseph Needham] investigating people and things”.

Scope and Contents 編號 No.：13 材質 Material：水晶 rock crystal 尺寸 Size：2.80 × 1.70 cm 齋號章。1952年7月10日在北平東安市場委託靜雅齋图章店篆刻，有发票（在52年资料盒里）。據李氏致李大斐信中所述，“十宿”在宋朝為Joseph的音譯。 Library style name seal. A seal made from rock crystal. Shi su is an early (Song dynasty) transliteration of Joseph, and zhai is a study or library, so it means “a book belonging to Joseph’s library”. Bought on 10 July 1952 (see date on the receipt in NRI2/5/15/3/6, and the letter from Joseph Needham to Dorothy Needham of the same date). In the letter...

Scope and Contents

The 2 seals are: 17a) Li Yuese yin 李約瑟印 Seal of Joseph Needham

17b) Li Dafei yin 李大斐印 Seal of Dorothy Needham Li Yuese jiaoshou/furen qing wan 李約瑟教授/夫人清玩 (Refined and elegant objects [curios] for Prof. Joseph Needham and his wife) from Tong Dizhou 童弟周 (Younger brother Zhou), Ye Yufen 葉毓芬.