1937年北平沦陷后,钱穆先生在北平书肆中获见清张海鹏“照旷阁”钞本《孟子私淑录》,因书商索价过昂,遂录为副本。1942年钱穆先生将其内容刊布于四川省立图书馆所编《图书集刊》创刊号上,并指出《孟子私淑录》撰成于《绪言》之后,《孟子字义疏证》之前,其成书年代大抵在乾隆四十一年间。晚近学者如余英时、鲍国顺、日本学者山井涌等多半信从其说。1978年台湾学者陈荣捷先生认为《孟子私淑录》当成书在《绪言》之前, After the fall of Peiping in 1937, Mr. Qian Mu was found in Qing dynasty bookcases by Qing Zhang Haipeng and his copy of Mencius Private Book, which was copied as a result of booksellers’ asking price. In 1942, Mr. Qian Mu published his contents on the first issue of “Book Journal” compiled by Sichuan Provincial Library and pointed out that “Mencius Private Records” was written in “Introduction” and “Mencius” Forty-one years in Qianlong. Recent scholars such as Yu Ying, Bao Guoshun, Japanese scholar Yamauchi, most believe it. In 1978, Mr. Chen Rongjie, a scholar in Taiwan, considered “Mencius Private Records” as a book before the “Introduction”