The Asian Presence in Early Printed Books: Japan, China, Indochina, Siam

The Japan and japonisme

Japan first became known to the Parisian public at the 1867 Exposition universelle, where it presented its national pavilion for the first time. In 1872, critic Philippe Burty coined the term ‘japonisme’. Siegfried Bing founded the journal Le Japon artistique in 1888, and Edmond de Goncourt published Outamaro (1891) and Hokousaï (1896), with the assistance of the dealer Hayashi Tadamasa, who had settled in Paris since the 1878 Exposition.

Literature followed. Pierre Loti drew Madame Chrysanthème (1887) from his stay in Nagasaki, later writing Japoneries d'automne (1889) and La Troisième Jeunesse de Madame Prune (1905); Judith Gautier published her Poèmes de la libellule in 1885, translated from Japanese and illustrated by Yamamoto Hōsui. The sale catalogues of Japanese art collections, such as that of Charles Gillot dispersed in 1904, complement this field closely followed by our Japanese clients. For them, these books hold a dual interest: they show Meiji-era Japan as seen by the French, and they preserve the record of the Japanese who collaborated on them, such as Hayashi Tadamasa or Yamamoto Hōsui.

China, from Jesuits to expeditions

China entered French libraries through missionaries. The Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, 34 volumes published from 1702 to 1776, and the Description de l'empire de la Chine by Father Du Halde (1735, four volumes adorned with maps and engravings), compiled in Paris from their correspondence, nourished the philosophers. Malebranche published as early as 1708 his Entretien d'un philosophe chrétien et d'un philosophe chinois.

In the 19th century came travellers such as the Lazarist Évariste Huc and his Souvenirs d'un voyage dans la Tartarie, le Thibet et la Chine (1850), followed by military accounts of the expeditions of 1860 and 1900, to be read as the viewpoint of a single side and compared with historians’ works. Loti published Les Derniers Jours de Pékin in 1902. For younger readers, Jules Verne released through Hetzel Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine (1879), illustrated by Léon Benett, and Paul d'Ivoi his Cigale en Chine.

Siam and Indochina

Siam fascinated the court of Louis XIV: the king sent the chevalier de Chaumont there in 1685, accompanied by the abbé de Choisy, and received the embassy of Kosa Pan at Versailles on 1 September 1686. Simon de La Loubère, sent in 1687, produced Du royaume de Siam (1691, two volumes), still cited by historians.

Two centuries later, Henri Mouhot introduced Angkor to European readers in Le Tour du monde (1863). The Mekong mission led by Doudart de Lagrée and then Francis Garnier, from 1866 to 1868, resulted in Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine, published by Hachette in 1873 with two volumes of atlas. This was followed by the Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient, whose first volume appeared in 1901, Un pèlerin d'Angkor by Loti (1912), Annamite language manuals, brochures from the 1931 Colonial Exhibition and accounts of the Indochina War.

Advice for collectors

• The false friend “japon”: in a French catalogue, “exemplaire sur japon” or “japon nacré” refers to a luxury paper, not a book about Japan. Our list excludes such titles.
• Old spellings: Pékin may also be written Péking, Edo becomes Yeddo, Annam and Tonkin refer to the centre and north of present-day Vietnam. Search under all variants.
• Completeness: major travel works often have a separate atlas and plates outside the text which may be missing; check before purchase.
• Condition: a book that has spent time in the tropics often shows foxing, damp-stains or insect damage.

Frequently asked questions

Do French books about Japan interest Japanese collectors?

Yes. Works on Japonisme, Loti’s travelogues, early translations of Japanese poetry and catalogues of Parisian collections of Japanese art have many enthusiasts in Japan. We ship worldwide, including Japan, with tracking.

What does “exemplaire sur japon” mean in a catalogue entry?

It refers to a printing on Japanese paper, a luxury paper with long fibres often used for deluxe copies of French editions. The book may be about any subject, not necessarily Japan.

How should one read books from the colonial era today?

Like period documents: they provide information about the countries described, but also about the prejudices and interests of their authors. Historians cross-reference them with local sources, and collectors can do the same.

How much is a 19th-century travel account of Asia worth?

Most range from a few dozen to a few hundred euros. A complete original edition with its plates and maps, in period binding and in good condition, can fetch a higher price; an estimate based on photographs can help assess yours.

To go further

• The antiquarian book market in Japan: Jinbocho, wahon, nara-bon
• Bibliophile papers: Japan, China, Holland and other fine papers
• Antiquarian books by Pierre Loti
• Antiquarian journals and magazines, from Tour du monde to L'Illustration
• Request an appraisal for colonial and exotic books
• The Travels and Regions section and our page Sell and appraise your antiquarian books
• Antiquarian books on Egypt and the Orient: travel and Orientalism
• Russia in antiquarian books: travellers, tsars, emigration