中國歷史學會會長張海鵬說:《日本侵華圖志》25卷搜集了兩萬五千張圖片,無論是從規模,無論是從哪方面講,在日本侵華圖片出版上還是次,勢必在出版史上留下很大影響。中國古代就有左圖右史,圖和史互證,文字有時候很難達到說明作用的地方,圖片可以補充說明。圖片有時候也難以說明歷史,因為反映歷史的圖片沒有找到,所以圖和史上互證的,我們集中了兩萬五千張圖片,又有幾百萬文字說明,可以做到圖史互證,而且我發現書的編輯很注重學術性,對於用圖片揭露日本侵華史起了很大作用,我認為這方面工作以後還需要做。*同志在7月30號講話當中大量篇幅都是講抗日戰爭研究怎麼做,他認為現在抗日戰爭主要成果與抗日戰爭歷史差距很大,還應該加強因此。我希望這部25卷圖書不是後一部,今後還需要繼續研究,還需要繼續搜集,還有發展的餘地,還有進一步收集資料的餘地,一方面對25卷《日本侵華圖志》的出版表示祝賀!也希望參與這項工作的朋友們繼續努力,把這項工作繼續做下去,希望以後有新的25卷、新的50卷出版,提供給學術界、提供給普通讀者來認識日本侵華史。
臺灣“中研院”院士、著名民國史學者張玉法先生評價說:迄今為止,有關日本侵華歷史的影像文獻,這套書是全世界範圍內*的一部鴻篇巨制。我相信,不僅此前各種文本的同類出版物很難與其比肩,而且在今後若干年之內,也很難有其超越者。可以說,《日本侵華圖志》是一部史無前例的揭示日本侵華歷史影像圖書的典範之作。
哈佛燕京圖書館館長鄭炯文先生在《日本侵華圖志》捐贈哈佛燕京圖書館儀式上說:I am very pleased to be here today to represent the Harvard-Yenching Library to accept the donation of this monumental publication(《日本侵華圖志》)from the Shandong Pictorial Publishing House.Established in 1928, the Harvard-Yenching Library is the largest East Asian library among all of the academic libraries in the West, with a collection of 1.5 million volumes, of which more than 850,000 volumes are in the Chinese language. We collect Chinese publications covering all scholarly isciplines in the social sciences and the humanities from ntiquity to the present. Our library collections support the teaching and research programs of East Asia Studies programs of Harvard’s faculty and students.At present, there are close to 100 faculty members among different academic units, departments, centers, and schools at Harvard whose research is related toChina. It is one of the largest Chinese Studies programs in theUnited States. And like most of the academic libraries inNorth America, the Harvard-Yenching Library collections are open to scholars not only at Harvard but to scholars from around the world.
As we all know,NanjingUniversityand its Center for the Study of Republican History are world famous. Professor Zhang Xian-wen is an authority of the history of modernChina, especially on the Republican period. Under his leadership, Professor Zhang has led a group of renowned scholars from many universities and academic centers inChinato collect, edit, and now publish this large collection of historical documents, photographs, and archives related to the conflicts betweenChinaandJapanin the modern times. We at the Harvard-Yenching Library are grateful to be chosen by the Shandong Pictorial Publishing House to receive this publication to add to our Chinese Collection to benefit scholars at Harvard and those who come to use the library collections atHarvardUniversityfrom around the world.
Lastly, I would be remise if I do not acknowledge the help of Professor Jiang Liang-qin. Professor Jiang is Visiting Scholar of the John King Fairbank Center of Chinese Studies at Harvard this year and last. She has been consulting the George Fitch Collection on modernChinain the Harvard-Yenching Library. It was Professor Jiang who introduced the Harvard-Yenching Library to the Shandong Pictorial Publishing House for this book donation. I
congratulate the Shandong Pictorial Publishing House to publish this large set of historical materials to benefit the scholarly world. Now that we know each other, maybe the Harvard-Yenching Library and the Shandong Pictorial Publishing House can work together to undertake some cooperative publishing projects in the near future by making use of some of the special and unique library materials on China in the Harvard-Yenching Library.