The Satow Collection of Japanese Books in the British Library: its history and significance

Abstract

• The aim of this article is to outline the history and importance of the collection of Japanese books which were acquired by the British Museum from the diplomat and scholar Sir Ernest Mason Satow (1843-1929) and which passed to the stewardship of the British Library on its creation in 1973. Satow’s life and career have been studied and written about extensively and a number of articles have been written about his book collections. In preparing this article, therefore, I have concentrated on assembling information, notably from Satow’s own letters and diaries and the archives of the British Museum and British Library, to explain how the collections were assembled, the story of their acquisition by the British Museum and how they have been treated since.