譯者前言:美國長老會駐山東濰縣宣教士方法斂(Frank H.Chalfant)博士,是最早從事甲骨收藏和研究的西方學者之一。1906年9月,他在美國匹斯堡卡內基博物館館刊第4卷第1期(Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum,Pittsburg,Vol.iv,No.1)上發表Early Chinese Writing一書,是最早利用甲骨文資料進行研究的專著。該書在國內沒有譯本,只有北京文殿閣書莊1940年的翻印本。此次翻譯使用的是卡內基博物 Translator’s Preface: Dr Frank H. Chamberlain, missionary of the Presbyterian Presbyterian Church in Weishan, Shandong Province, was one of the earliest Western scholars engaged in the collection and research of the oracle bone. He was the author of Early Chinese Writing at the Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg, Vol.iv, No.1 in September 1906 in the United States Use the Oracle data research monographs. The book in the country there is no translation, only Beijing Wen Dian Ge Shuzhuang 1940 reprint. The translation uses the Carnegie Museum