Families that entered the library without a"proper reason" would be banished from the ancestral hall for years, which was about the worst disgrace at the time. The library was open only to male members of Fan's family. After Fan died in 1585, his eldest son inherited it.

Huang Zongxi (1610-95), a famous historian, was the first person outside the Fan family to be allowed to enter the library, accompanied by Fan's great-grandson. Throughout its history, the library had opened its gates to only eight people outside of the family, all of them among the greatest thinkers and artists of their time.

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Tianyige had acquired such an illustrious reputation that even Emperor Qianlong sent officials to learn how it was built and how the books were preserved. He modeled Wenyuan chamber in the Forbidden City and Wenjin chamber in the Chengde mountain resort after Tianyige.

During the First Opium War (1839-1842), however, Tianyige fell victim to the British army, which took away many valuable books, and later, book dealers and thieves took more. By the mid-20th century, it was left with fewer than 20,000 volumes.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the library was renovated and received donations from various other libraries and collectors. Today, the collection is 300,000 volumes.

Damaged books are restored in a nearby antique book center. The restoration involves some 13 procedures. Among other things, the books are first numbered by pages, and then painstakingly cleaned with tweezers, brushes and sometimes paste. The broken pages are patched with ancient paper or handmade paper, followed by pressing and binding.

Most of the restored books are now available in digital form on www.tianyige.com.cn.

The library has also become a book-themed museum since 1994, hosting regular exhibitions of Chinese calligraphy and paintings.

Besides its collection of antique books, Tianyige also features a traditional garden, with wooden buildings, cobbled pathways, artificial hills and tranquil ponds set over an area of more than 31,000 square meters.