PREFACE

The experience of stepping into the IACM Building Library is like a ride on a time machine. It is said that no major change has been made to the interior decoration of the Library for almost 90 years since 1929, and one cannot help being awestruck by the predecessors’ visionary wisdom and high respect for knowledge. The Library, which is home to many weathered rare books in Western languages, bears silent witness to the history. Here we should be aware that, at the beginning of book publishing, books were literally luxuries because many of them were produced in a time-consuming and costly way through manual binding and movable type printing, not to mention the exceptional historical significance of rare books in Western languages for being a crucial source which gives us a glimpse of Sino-Western cultural exchange of the time. In this issue of Books and the City, we attempt to give you a textual tour around this treasure trove of Western rare books in Macao, and find out from Stella Lee Shuk Yee, a local senior researcher of rare books, certain interesting stories behind the priceless rare book collection that she has meticulously ‘pampered’.

Apart from the IACM Building Library, the Rare Book Collection Room at the University of Macau Library also boasts a rich collection of Western rare books. In this issue we have interviewed Dr Wu Jianzhong, University Librarian of the University of Macau Library, who will introduce to you the future development of the Library and further elaborate upon the topic ‘Public Libraries @ Smart City’, a lecture he delivered during Macao Library Week 2018. The column ‘Author’s Say’ features an interview with Rusty Fox (Wang Lap Wong), the Macao photographer who has just self-published a documentary photography collection Dummy. Returning to Macao with his UK study experience in some years earlier, he has decided to inject a new flow of publishing energy into the city where he was born and raised.

Last but not least, let us have a retrospective look together at ‘Relaxing Moment at St. Augustine’s Square – Guided Architectural Tour and Sketching Activity’, one of the activities celebrating the 60th anniversary of Sir Robert Ho Tung Library. During the tour architect and artist Andre Lui Chak Keong introduced the interesting history of the architecture, streets and alleys near the Library in a novel way that created a pleasant as well as knowledge-packed experience for the participants. What if you missed out on the activity? No worries. You can read the ‘replay’ in Books and the City, check out the upcoming activities organized by Macao Public Library and register as a participant of the interactive experience.