杜希德教授（Prof. Denis Crispin Twitchett [1925.9.23~2006.2.24]）是西方漢學界的大師，先後任教於倫敦大學、劍橋大學、普林斯頓大學，並在1967年獲選為英國國家學術院院士。杜教授的專長是中國中古史，但事實他涉獵的範圍非常之廣。杜教授同時也是《劍橋中國史》的總編輯，Asia Major的主編，劍橋中華文史叢刊（歷史類）的主編。主要的著作有《唐代財政制度》、《唐代的官修史學》等，對東亞史研究積功甚深，聲譽崇隆。

杜教授於2006年2月故逝，史語所同仁有感於杜教授的辭世，對整個學術社群及曾經直接或間接受教於他的人而言，都是難以言喻的損失。經與家屬聯繫並獲得同意，將杜教授的藏書無償贈予史語所。這批藏書數量計約5,500種、共約7,500冊，其特色是漢至唐代與東亞相關之研究。史語所決定將這份珍貴的遺產在傅斯年圖書館闢室集中收藏，並命名為「杜希德文庫」。茲對館藏部分資料簡介如下：

Professor Denis Crispin Twitchett (September 23, 1925 - February 24 , 2006) was a major figure in Western Sinology who over his career was a professor at the University of London, Cambridge University, and Princeton University. In 1967, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Professor Twitchett's speciality was mediaeval Chinese history, but the range of his scholarly endeavours was extremely broad. He was also the main editor of the Cambridge History of China project, the founding editor of the Third Series of the scholarly journal Asia Major, and editor of the Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions, a scholarly monograph series published by Cambridge University. His scholarly monographs include: Financial Administration under the T'ang Dynasty, The Writing of Official History under the T'ang. Professor Twitchett's death in February of 2006 was an immeasurable loss not only to his former students and colleagues but also to Chinese historical scholarship and the scholarship of East Asia in general.

Professor Twitchett's family members have decided to donate gratis the books he had collected over his lifetime to the Fu Ssu-nien Library of the Institute of History & Philology at Academia Sinica. Professor Twitchett's collection contains about 5,500 titles with an estimated total of 7,500 volumes. Most of the books in the collection cover related research works on East Asia from the Han to the Tang Dynasty. This precious collection has been named "The Collection of Professor Denis Crispin Twitchett (1925 – 2006)".