論文所研究的「嶺南大學」特指以1888年建校的格致書院為前身，一脈發展而來，並於1952年院系合併時停辦的廣州嶺南大學。嶺南大學圖書館舊藏中文善本書的主體現保存於廣州中山大學圖書館，是其館藏中文古籍善本之重要來源之一。論文從數量、來源和特色三個層面對嶺南大學圖書館舊藏中文善本書進行介紹和分析，並通過嶺南大學的辦學方針、教育理念和學術研究等角度的研究解釋善本館藏特色的成因。嶺南大學圖書館在抗戰爆發前藏有經、史、子、集各類善本圖書共計174種，善本圖書是以曾釗的舊藏為主體，其來源還包括徐甘棠、潘宗周、徐紹楨、甘翰臣等人的捐贈，而方志類善本的建設則與美國國會圖書館亞洲部中國方志的建設有一定的聯繫。館藏中文善本書的特色體現在多明本和抄本，重視對明代史料和明人文集的收集，在廣東地方志和廣東文獻的收藏方面尤其突出。

The Lingnan University in this article is the Guangzhou Lingnan University, whose forerunner was a Christian College built in 1888 and which ceased operations and was largely absorbed into the Guangzhou Sun Yat-Sen University in 1952. The Chinese rare books of the former Lingnan University Library were by and large merged into the current Sun Yat-Sen University Library and have become a major constituent of its rare books collections. This article analyzes the quantity, sources, and characteristics of the Chinese rare books and shows how the collection development supported the education and research purposes. Lingnan University Library had 174 kinds of Chinese rare books before the Second Sino-Japanese War. It comprised prodominantly Zhao Zeng's collections and the donations of Gantang Xu, Zongzhou Pan, Shaozhen Xu, Hanchen Gan. The Library of Congress of the United States had influenced the collection of local records in Lingnan. The prominent characteristics of the existing collection included the following: (1) it comprises a large quantity of prints and manuscripts of the Ming dynasty; (2) particularly, it highlights the historical and literary records of the Ming; (3) geographically it emphasizes Guangdong records.