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Thomas Francis Carter (1882–1925) was an American scholar who wrote the first book-length history in the West on the Chinese origins of printing. Thomas Francis Carter's early life is not well documented. The first we know of him is that he graduated from Princeton University in 1904, at the age of 22. Two years later, he embarked with three friends on a world tour, including a visit to China. In Nanjing, Carter left his companions in order to visit two cousins who were missionaries in
Huaiyuan Huaiyuan County (Postal: Hweiyuen; ) is a county in the north of Anhui Province, China. It is under the administration of Bengbu Bengbu () is a city in northern Anhui Province, China. Its population was 3,296,408 registered residents at the 20 ...
, Anhui province, making the 250-kilometre journey on foot with a group of Chinese merchants. By the time he reached his destination he was smitten by China. He stayed for three months to begin learning the language. On his return to the United States, Carter continued to correspond in Chinese with his language teacher. In 1910 Carter married, and returned to China as superintendent of a circuit of city and country schools. Straight away he began a study of Chinese history, using his knowledge of the language. His bride, Mrs. Dagny Carter, as she was henceforth known, accompanied him and later became a China scholar in her own right. In 1921, while reading a book on a train to Shandong, where he was travelling to assist with famine relief, Carter came across a passage about the four great Chinese inventions of the compass, gunpowder, paper and printing, which seized his imagination. The next year Thomas and Dagny travelled to Europe. In Munich Thomas met with Dr. Friedrich Hirth, a former head of the Department of Chinese at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. Carter, looking to turn the history of Chinese inventions into a research topic, consulted Hirth, who pointed out that the invention of printing in China and its spread westward had been little studied in the West but was well documented in Chinese sources. Carter readily took up the suggestion and spent the winter and spring of 1922-3 in Berlin researching archeological material brought from
Chinese Turkestan Xinjiang, SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autono ...
by Albert von Le Coq. From Berlin, Carter's researches led him to Paris, where he introduced himself to
Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts such as the Dunhuang manuscripts. Early life and caree ...
of the
École française d'Extrême-Orient The French School of the Far East (french: École française d'Extrême-Orient, ), abbreviated EFEO, is an associated college of PSL University dedicated to the study of Asian societies. It was founded in 1900 with headquarters in Hanoi in wh ...
, the archeologist and sinologist who had collected hundreds of rare manuscripts from the
Mogao Caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...
near
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in Northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Dunhuang was a major ...
in Chinese Turkestan. Pelliot took an immediate interest in the subject, bringing from his desk drawer a box full of movable type in Chinese characters, hundreds of years older than Gutenberg's, which he had found on a cave floor. Pelliot proved of great help to Carter as his researches advanced, and Carter dedicated his book to Pelliot when it finally appeared. Carter was awarded a PhD from Columbia University, and in 1924 was invited to join their Chinese faculty, finally becoming head of department. Sadly, Carter's academic career was short. In 1925 he fell ill and died just as his book emerged from the press. ''The Invention of Printing in China and its Spread Westwards'', has been acknowledged as a classic. A new edition appeared in 1931, and a revised edition undertaken by his successor at Columbia, Dr. Carrington Goodrich, appeared in 1955. While much of its content has by now been overtaken by subsequent research and archeological discoveries, Carter's book was a ground-breaking contribution to the subject and even now much (such as his chapter on paper) remains relevant. Carter also contributed a chapter on the spread of printing from China to the West in Arthur Waley's 1924-5 Year book.Volume 1Volume 2
In 1930 his wife Dagny Carter remarried, to the architect
Henry Killam Murphy Henry Killam Murphy (August 19, 1877 – October 12, 1954) was an American architect noted for his design of educational establishments in the North-East of the United States, China and Japan. Early life and education Henry Killam Murphy was bor ...
. She remained dedicated to the memory of her first husband and was instrumental in the publication of the revised edition of his book in 1955. Almost all biographical information in this article is drawn from Dagny Carter's memoir of him in the preface to this edition.


References


Further reading

Carter, Thomas F.
''The Invention of Printing in China and its Spread Westwards''
Columbia University Press, New York, 1925. Carter, Thomas F. and Goodrich, Carrington, ''The Invention of Printing in China and its Spread Westwards'', 2nd edition, Ronald Press, New York, 1955. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Thomas Franklin 1882 births 1925 deaths Columbia University alumni Princeton University alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers