Founding father and first president of the Republic of China (1866-1925). Important carbon typescript draft of Sun Yat-sen's autobiographical essay, "How China Was Made a Republic," extensively annotated and corrected in Sun's hand, totaling 43 pages, 8 x 10.5, bound into a hardcover book and originating from the collection of Paul Myron Wentworth Linebarger, an American lawyer and legal adviser to Sun Yat-sen (1907-1925), and to the Chinese Nationalist Government (1930-1937). A prefatory note signed by his son, Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, describes the piece: "This is the carbon copy of Dr. Sun's autobiography, Sun Wen Hsueh She, in an English translation. The mss. has corrections in the handwriting of Dr. Sun himself, and was presented to my father, Dr. Paul Linebarger. Judge Linebarger wanted to use it in his biography of Dr. Sun, Sun Yat-sen and the Chinese Republic, but was unable to arrange to do so...To my knowledge, this is the only copy of this English version, which differs radically from the translation by Prof. Hsu...and may very well be a re-working of the materials in the Sun Wen Hsueh She."
The important manuscript is dated at the end in Sun's hand, "Shanghai, August 12, 1919," and boasts Sun's ink emendations on every page—sometimes simply striking through errant letters or making minor spelling corrections, and other times adding complete sentences or clarifying remarks. The essay begins: "In starting the revolution that finally converted China from a Monarchy into a Republic, I have been fortunate enough in the destructive portion of my program. Although the constructive phase has yet to be attained, my faith in the complete attainment of my purpose and aim strengthens with years." He goes on to document his early life and the beginning of the revolutionary movement, the First China-Japan War in 1894, his time abroad in America, Europe, and Japan, the Boxer Rebellion, the Wuchang Uprising, and international relations.
In the passage discussing the First China-Japan War, he corrects the name "Dong Yung Nam" to "Dang Yin Nan," and notes that he "went to and fro between Canton and" Hong Kong. Some of the lengthiest notations come on pages 13-14, as he revises a passage about his overseas activities (Sun's handwritten amendments in brackets): "I sent Chen Sa[u] Pak to Hongkong to establish a revolutionary newspaper, directed Sze [Chien] Y[i] to the Yangtze region to untie [the] members [of the Hung League] and asked Chen Se Liang to establish a headquarter at Hongkong [to connect all the] members [of the secret society in South China. Thus we succeeded in amalgamating the Hung League of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Fukien, commonly known as the Triad Society, and the Hung League of the Yangtse Valley, commonly known as Kolao Hui, into the Hsing Chung Hui, for united action.]"
Closing the essay, Sun Yat-sen reports: "An election was held at Nanking b[y] representatives from [the eighteen] provinces and I was elected Provisional President. On January 1, 1912 I took my oath of inauguration and issued a mandate christening China as 'The Chung Hwa Min Kuo' and changed the calendar from the Lunar into the Solar System, thereby making that year the first year of the Republic of China. At last in thirty years my determination of restoring China and of establishing a Republic succeeded."
The manuscript itself is in fine condition; it is custom-bound along with Linebarger's introductory letter and a prefatory page into a quarter-leather hardcover book, which had a cracked front hinge and detached spine.
