Transferring Sinosphere Knowledge to the Public: James Summers (1828-91) as Printer, Editor and Cataloguer

Uganda Sze Pui Kwan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

James Summers occupied the professorship of Chinese for two decades at King's College London. He was also a trailblazer in promoting the study of Japanese culture in Victorian Britain, but he has been an underrated and understudied figure in British history. Summers was an ardent supporter of modern printing. He believed printed media was the most effective medium to transform British perceptions of Asia, which in turn would help support Britain's foreign political, commercial and missionary enterprise. He also orchestrated the printing of catalogues and journals in his capacity as library assistant to the British Museum and the India Office Library. He even set up his own press to print a newspaper in order to disseminate knowledge of East Asia to a broader readership. Based on primary materials that have rarely been used before, this paper positions Summers in the study of book history, material culture and print mediums in order to reassess his pioneering efforts in Sinological studies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)56-84
Number of pages29
JournalEast Asian Publishing and Society
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Communication
  • Media Technology
  • Library and Information Sciences

Keywords

  • British diplomatic interpreters
  • India Office Library
  • James Summers
  • print culture
  • Sinology in the 19th Century
  • The Chinese and Japanese Repository
  • The Flying Dragon Reporter
  • The Phoenix

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