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

This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Transferring Sinosphere knowledge to the public : James Summers (1828‑91) as printer, editor and cataloguer

Kwan, Uganda Sze Pui

2018

Kwan, U. S. P. (2018). Transferring Sinosphere knowledge to the public : James Summers (1828‑91) as printer, editor and cataloguer. East Asian Publishing and Society, 8(1), 56‑84. https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22106286‑12341317 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146850 https://doi.org/10.1163/22106286‑12341317

Downloaded on 26 Sep 2021 03:40:52 SGT Transferring Sinosphere Knowledge to the Public: James Summers (1828-91) as Printer, Editor and Cataloguer

Uganda Sze Pui Kwan Nanyang Technological University, Singapore [email protected]

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.

Keywords

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

1 Introduction

As a scholar of Chinese and Japanese in Victorian England, the Reverend

James Summers (1828-91) was not unheard of. He was the second professor of Chinese at King’s College, University of London, where he taught some of the most important future scholars of Chinese history during his twenty-year tenure (1853-1873). Among them were Sir Robert Kennaway Douglas (1838-1913) and Edward Harper Parker (1849-1926), who would both later become professors of Chinese during the second half of the nineteenth century. Summers was also a trailblazer in promoting the study of Japanese language and culture, before Japanology had even become established as an independent subject in British universities. In 1873, he left for Japan to assume teaching duties, and while there, he introduced Shakespeare to the Japanese and became the first to translate bits and pieces of Shakespearean works into Japanese.1 His achievements have, however, gone appreciated and forgotten, perhaps partly due to an unfortunate incident that occurred early in his preaching career, which blem- ished his record in the British Foreign Office. It occurred while he was still a young man and on leave from Macao and will be discussed in detail below. Summers’ poor judgment was the beginning of his undoing. The first in- stance of this was when his contemporary, Thomas Francis Wade (1818-1895), who would later become the British Minister to China and the inaugural professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge, relentlessly repudiated the notion of incorporating Summers’ curriculum at King’s College London.2 And in Dennis C. Twitchett’s authoritative study, Summers was accused of being an inadequate teacher of Chinese.3 Moreover, when we consider that King’s College tolerated Summers’ various requests in his two-decade long service, such as to embark on studies at the University of Oxford for a degree from 1853 to 1857, to take on outside students who were not affiliated to the College and sometimes to hold classes at home, and in addition that he left the College without tendering a proper resignation, we can conclude that Summers’ character worked against him.4 He seems to have been ambitious, disrespectful and ec- centric. It is understandable, therefore, that British sinologists did not consider him a peer, and that, in the adjacent field of Japanology, Summers’ incompe- tence was berated.5 It is, no doubt, for these reasons that in the Anglophone

1 Shigehisa, ‘Nihon ni okeru Saō kenkyū no senku’; Sasaki, ‘James Summers’. 2 The National Archives, Foreign Office records (hereafter FO) FO 228/224/125-140 [12 March 1857]; FO 228/233/39-45 [11 March 1857]. 3 Twitchett, Land tenure and the social order in T’ang and Sung China, 4, 6-7. 4 King’s College London archives (hereafter KCL), KCL/ Out Letter Box (hereafter OLB) /3-4/263, [Cummingham to James Summers, 4 March 1853]; KCL/ OLB/ 5-6. [Cummingham to Summers, 23 July 1873, p. 107]; KCL/OLB/ 5-6, [Cummingham to Summers, 14 October 1873 , p. 109]; KCL / Council Minutes (hereafter CM) 260-261 [11 July, 1873]; CM/ p. 266 [10 October 1873]. Summers was matriculated at Magdalen Hall (now restructured as Hertford College), Oxford University, on 17 December 1853 as a student but he did not graduate. Foster, Alumni Oxonienses, 4: 1371. 5 Satow, Sir Ernest Satow’s private letters to W. G. Aston and F. V. Dickins, 148. world Summers and his achievements in East Asian studies have been neglected.6 Hitherto, only two short biographical portraits mark Summers’ historical significance.7 Summers spent half his life in East Asia. He achieved much in terms of the early formation of East Asian knowledge that cut across the intellectual land- scapes of missionary work, Sinology, Japanology and print culture. His academic contributions are less impressive, it is true, but his initiative in using print media to transfer Asian knowledge to the public sphere deserves a fuller critical assessment than it has hitherto been given. One example of his use of print media is Taisei shinbun (Foreign news), which he compiled and printed in 1873 and which is said to have been the first overseas Japanese newspaper.8 In fact, Summers’ pioneering efforts date back earlier, to 1866, when his press at 3 George Yard, Lombard Street, London, printed a Chinese newspaper, The Flying Dragon reporter (Feilung Baopian 飛龍報篇), which might have been the first Chinese newspaper printed in Europe.9 No sooner had Summers printed this newspaper than it immediately drew the attention of the first Chinese diplomatic mission to London, in 1868-67.10 Summers contributed to a larger intellectual domain during his tenure at King’s College London. In 1858 (and much later), in addition to his position at King’s, he also held concurrent employment at the British Museum Library; and from 1868 to 1873 he worked at the India Office Library. In both institutions he was an assistant tasked with compiling the catalogues of their East Asian collections. By so doing, he created a new tradition whereby the professor of Chinese at the University of London shared his expertise with other local academic institutions. Indeed, the Reverend Samuel Beal (1825-1889), the second professor of Chinese at University College, London, and Robert Kennaway

6 In Japanese there are several studies on Summers; earlier lengthy studies include Shōwa joshi daigaku kindai bunka kenkyūshitsu, comp., ‘J. Summers’; Tezuka, ‘Tōkeifu shiryō ni miru Sanmā gakkō’. 7 Noboru Koyama has produced the most thorough study of the life of James Summers in English: ‘James Summers, 1828-91: early sinologist and pioneer of Japanese newspapers in London and English literature in Japan’, and ‘Summers, James (1828-1891)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 8 Ebihara, ‘Taisei shinbun’. The only rival is Léon de Rosny’s Yo-no ouvasa [Yo no uwasa], published in Paris in 1868, which was short-lived. 9 The first Chinese newspaper printed in South-East Asia was Chashisu meiyue tongjichuan 察世俗每月統記傳 (The Chinese monthly magazine), in 1815; in the United States it was The Golden Hills’ news (Jinshan rixinlue 金山日新錄), in 1854. 10 Zhang Deyi, Oumei huanyouji, 698; also see below. Douglas, the third professor of Chinese at King’s, both took over Summers’ positions at these two libraries. Working in the India Office Library presented Summers with a valuable opportunity, for it gave him access to a labyrinth of knowledge. With this resource behind him, in 1863, he was able to repatriate the journal The Chinese repository from Canton back to London, and he also expanded the contents to include Japan in the renamed Chinese and Japanese repository. He also started editing a new magazine, The Phœnix: a monthly magazine for China, Japan and Eastern Asia. Here, his intention was to disseminate Sinosphere knowledge within and beyond diplomatic circles so as to prepare Britons for careers in the ‘Far East’. Since the phoenix, along with the dragon, symbolized prosperity and royalty in ancient China, it is clear that Summers set high goals for his journal and also for himself. Summers’ job titles at the British Museum Library and the India Office Library were rather lowly, but his contributions should not be underestimated. He was the first to properly itemize and catalogue the chaotic East Asian collection which the India Office Library had acquired through colonial missions over several centuries.11 Before Summers took the collection in charge, the manuscripts and other items in the collection were decaying for lack of care and expertise.12 It was a daunting task that Summers took on and it required stamina, passion and determination, especially considering that he also held a full-time teaching job. Nevertheless, Summers seemed to find the task of cataloguing all the material in the two institutions fulfilling. If we follow the daybook, the registers and the correspondence of the India Office Library records, now deposited in the British Library, we discover that Summers enriched the collection through use of his networks in Asia and beyond (see below). Summers’ library assistantship also involved building up and maintaining a collection to ensure that the library would meet the needs of readers. With his specific knowledge of East Asia, Summers was the ideal person to acquire new books, to exchange surplus copies, and to ensure that materials were made available to researchers and to local and international libraries. Although he had a recalcitrant attitude toward authority and institutional establishments, his roles as an editor, cataloguer and, in particular, a printer should not be overlooked. This paper takes its approach from Alberto Manguel’s seminal concepts of the library as power, as home and as imagination.13 As such, it argues that

11 Summers, Descriptive catalogue. 12 Arberry, The India Office Library, 52. 13 Manguel, The Library at night, 91-104, 268-90, 306-20. any study of James Summers should be anchored in the knowledge networks around the editing, printing, and circulating of printed media. To him, the library, as an institution, offered the freedom to transfer knowledge beyond geographical, political, and bureaucratic circles. That is, he saw the library as not simply a physical entity that housed books, nor as a sanctuary in which to escape. It was also more than a place in which to find intellectual inspira- tion. Rather, to Summers, the library acted as a source of empowerment for researchers and academics. The privilege of surfing in a sea of knowledge, of finding consolation through reading, of inheriting knowledge synchronically and passing it on to the next generation, set him free from institutional politics and his own personal frustrations. Although he never fulfilled his dream of joining the British diplomatic service, the medium of print offered him the opportunity to serve the diplomatic service in a different way. Using the archival records of the Foreign Office, of King’s College London, and of the Institut de France, and elsewhere, this paper will reexamine the role played by Summers, and it will do so through the prism of his printing praxis in Victorian London.

2 Early Sojourn in East Asia and the Scope of the Position of Professor of Chinese at King’s College

Summers’ professional life took many twists and turns. His cultural encounters in his first few stops in East Asia, namely Hong Kong, Macao and Shanghai, can be seen as simulataneously desirable and disastrous for a young missionary at the start of his career. In this section, we will briefly consisder Summer’s credentials in terms of his knowledge of Chinese and his subsequent employment at King’s. This will clear up some of the skepticism about his abilities and qualifications, and help us to understand the setbacks he faced in his career.14 In 1848, at the age of nineteen, Summers followed the Reverend Vincent John Stanton (1817-1891) to Hong Kong, where he was employed as Stanton’s personal assistant. He also tutored in English and general subjects at St Paul’s College, the first Anglican school in Hong Kong, which Stanton had recently established. This proved to be the first important turn in Summers’ life. Stanton was an eager missionary. As early as 1840, he had travelled alone to China, where he pursued a calling to save the souls of the Chinese people, without any institutional patronage, secular or Christian. This violated Chinese law, as all foreign contact with its citizens was prohibited. In the fall

14 On the life of Summers, see the articles by Noboru Koyama cited in note 7 above. of 1840, Stanton was apprehended and thrown into prison. However, owing to the hardships he endured, he became much respected in the Christian community. After his release, he returned to England in search of an assistant for his missionary work in China.15 During his search he met Summers. Of humble background and born in Lichfield, Summers had completed his diocesan training in Liverpool, and had been recommended by the Reverend Samuel Minton (1820-1894). Stanton hired him, and Summers embarked on his first journey to East Asia. As Stanton’s personal assistant, Summers shared the aura that surround- ed the older, more experienced missionary. During their time in Hong Kong, Summers studied Chinese at the Morrison Education Society School, where Stanton was a highly engaged council member.16 However, the school’s mission was to teach an English curriculum to Chinese students.17 Therefore, it might be assumed that Summers only acquired rudimentary Chinese, as this was not part of the school’s established programme of study. Nevertheless, Summers continued to study Chinese on his own. However, his apprenticeship with Stanton stopped in 1849 when Stanton was compelled to leave Hong Kong for sick leave. Summers also took the opportunity to take a short trip to Macao.18 On 7 June 1849, while Summers was strolling around the city in Macao, he run into the local celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi. There, he encountered a Catholic procession in a narrow alley. Catholic tradition expected all male passers-by to remove their hats and, thereby, show respect. But as Summers was a protestant, he resolutely refused to comply and ended up in prison. One day later, Summers wrote to the U.S. consul in Macao and to other Westerners who had travelled to Macao with him, and asked for their help. Somehow, his message reached Captain (later Admiral of the Fleet Sir) Henry Keppel (1809- 1904), a senior British naval officer on the China Station, who thought it his duty to rescue his countryman and therefore sent ships to Macao to demand Summers’ release. Somehow in the melée, several English and Portuguese sol- diers were either killed or wounded. Subsequently, the Portuguese governor of Macao complained to the British Foreign Office and demanded compensation. This event also led to a discussion, in the British Parliament, about the safety

15 London Missionary Society Archive (hereafter LMS) / South China/ 4/ 3/ A/ 45 [Stanton to Board of LMS] [17 March 1843]. 16 Smith, Chinese Christians: elites, middlemen, and the Church in Hong Kong, 13. 17 The Morrison Education Society annual report (1846). 18 Kyshe, The History of the laws and courts of Hong Kong, 245. and the rights of British subjects overseas. This was, perhaps, not the best way for Summers to make his mark.19 Summers then left for Shanghai, presumably to wait for the dispute die down. During his sojourn in Shanghai, which lasted for two years, he learned the dialect of Shanghai, and became engaged in translating the Gospel of St. John into Shanghainese.20 In 1852, the professorship of Chinese at King’s College London became va- cant, and Summers submitted an application.21 Sir George Thomas Staunton (1781-1859), who was the founder of the Chinese programme, the most prominent British sinologist at the time, and a member of the Council of King’s, pre- sided over the recruitment committee.22 At the end of 1852, when Staunton was queried about Summers, he reported to the recruitment committee that although the applicant seemed to meet the College’s requirements, he could not verify his competence. Staunton had a huge academic network in China, and although he asserted that he had never heard of Summers, he endorsed the hiring, largely based on the details Summers had laid out in his application and the strong recommendations he had provided. Summers was able to solicit recommendation letters from highly respected missionaries and other figures.23 They all proclaimed that Summers was dili- gent, studious, and virtuous, and that his employment would be greatly ad- vantageous to the Anglican Church’s missionary activities in China.24 King’s College was in fact an episcopal college, and the first Professor of Chinese, Samuel Turner Fearon (1819-1854), was dismissed because he was found not to be a member of the Anglican Church.25 Summer’s mentor, Stanton, particularly emphasized Summers’ fondness for learning, and competence in various languages, including French, German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. And, most importantly, he pointed out that, as Summers had learned Chinese

19 FO 17/ 162/ 191-228 [6 Sept 1849]; FO 17 /183/ 271 [28 March 1851]; Keppel, A Sailor’s life, 117-122. 20 Summers, The Gospel of Saint John in the Chinese language. 21 KCL/KA/IC/S49 [Staunton to Cummingham, 4 March 1850]. 22 KCL/KA/IC/S50 [Staunton to Cummingham, 27 November, 1852]. 23 Summers’ referees included Vincent Stanton, Bishop George Smith (1815-1871) of the dio- cese of Victoria, the Reverend William Jones Boone (1811-1864), a bishop of the Anglican Church in the United States, who had been the first missionary to go to Shanghai and the Reverend John Hobson (1849-1862), a priest of the Trinity Church in Shanghai. Summers also obtained a letter from Captain Peter Cracroft RN (1816-1865). 24 KCL/KA/IC/S50 [Stanton to Cummingham, 25 November 1852]. 25 Kwan, ‘Translation and the British Colonial Mission’, 18. without a textbook, he would certainly be a sympathetic and compassionate teacher for new learners of Chinese. In his application letter, Summers stated that he had learned three dialects, Cantonese, Shanghainese, and Pekingese. Although he overrated his knowledge of Pekingese, this was a time when there was no consensus in Britain and the world as to which Chinese dialect was the standard spoken language. There was also no standard method of transliterating any of these dialects in Roman script. Of the three, Shanghainese was the dialect Summers knew best. And as Shanghai was the hub of British trade with China, Summers thought Shanghainese was particularly important for British interests in China. Included with his letter was a bilingual list of books he recommended for Chinese learning, the Chinese part of which Summers had elegantly hand- written using a calligraphic brush. Summers’ Chinese calligraphy would also appear later in his many publications (such as his first book published in 1853), which suggests that he was proud of his mastery of this writing skill. On 11 December 1852, King’s announced its employment of Summers for a five-year term.26 He was to start on 1 January 1853, with an annual salary of £100.27 Summers assumed his office by giving an inaugural lecture, which was subsequently published.28 When the news of Summers’ employment reached Hong Kong, there was considerable uproar among those who knew him. James William Norton Kyshe (1855-1920) had been a judge in colonial Hong Kong and Singapore and understood, from personal experience, the chronic lack of competent court interpreters in the colonies. In his book on the history of the law courts of Hong Kong, Kyshe stated that Summers had stayed in Hong Kong only for a brief period, and he further asserted that Summers’ level of competence in Chinese was fairly low for someone who was assuming a professorship.29 However, Kyshe’s comments might not have been entirely objective, for he himself did not know Chinese. Thomas Wade, who had been a court interpreter in Hong Kong as early as 1846, also questioned Summers’ competence in Chinese. But there could have been another reason for the tension between Wade and Summers: their ambitions to monopolize Chinese

26 KCL/OLB3-4/227 [11 December 1852] Cummingham to Summers. 27 KA/IC/S50 [27 November 1852] Staunton to Cummingham. Nakagawa Kazuko wrongly states that there was no fixed salary for the professor of Chinese at King’s and that the professor’s only income was the tuition fees paid by his students. Nevertheless, it is true that the salary was relatively low, which was due to the fact that it was set up by private donations. Nakagawa, ‘Jēmuzu Samāzu’. 28 Summers, Lecture on the Chinese language and literature. 29 Kyshe, The History of the laws and courts of Hong Kong, 348. studies for the student interpreter program that was being orchestrated by the Foreign Office. In 1853, the year Summers was hired at King’s, the College and the Foreign Office entered into a new partnership. When Staunton founded the professorship of Chinese, in 1846, his intention had been to make it a base for training Chinese-speaking interpreters who were about to be dispatched from Britain to Asia. Staunton’s scheme finally took shape in 1854, when George Villiers, the 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), who was the Foreign Secretary at the time, together with Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), the Superintendent of Trade with China, restructured the Foreign Office and reorganized the student interpreter program. Under this new policy, interpreters were to learn Chinese at King’s before being dispatched to China. The student-selection process was rigorous, as they were to be nominated by the chancellors of the seven topmost universities in Great Britain. King’s was the dominant and only location in Britain for learning Chinese, and the College’s Chinese programme was originally set up for that purpose. Thus, a large proportion of the students was nominated by the College’s Principal.30 As a result, the Professor of Chinese also played a prominent role in the process. He was responsible for designing and delivering the curriculum and for evaluating the students. In addition, the professor was also tasked with signing the students’ certificates, which were proof of their ability in the Chinese language and knowledge of Chinese culture, before they set out for China. This interpreter programme was designed to be an offshoot of the regular Chinese curriculum at King’s. It was established there to benefit from all the resources already available at the College and, as the Professor of Chinese at King’s, Summers became actively engaged in the programme. Long before the restructuring of the student interpreter programme, the Foreign Office had been well aware of the need to train interpreters in East Asian languages, especially in Japanese. So, in addition to its focus on China, the programme had various subdivisions to include the study of other Asian countries and their languages and cultures, including Japan, Korea, Cochin- China (Vietnam), and Siam (Thailand). However, considering that trade with Japan was not comparable with that with China, and also that Britain was engaged in the Crimean War (1853-1856), at the time, the British authorities decided against putting more resources into the study of Japanese.31 In the past, whenever British merchants and missionaries had got into difficulties or life-threatening situations in Japan and asked for aid from their government, the government would dispatch interpreters on demand. But because of their

30 FO 17/307. 31 Beasley, Great Britain and the opening of Japan, 78-81. limited training, these interpreters did not achieve very much. However, on 14 July 1853, the arrival of the American fleet, later dubbed the ‘Black Ships’ and led by Commodore Matthew Perry, presented the British with a new variation on the power struggle in Asia.32 The British had known little about Japan, but after the Americans signed the Kanagawa Treaty with Japan in March 1854, the British decided to strengthen the Japanese interpreter programme and send appropriate diplomatic personnel to Japan.33 They sent Sir Rutherford Alcock (1809-1897), who had been consul at Fuzhou and Shanghai, as the first consul-general (1858-1864). Alcock would later become an expert on Japan in the English-speaking world, and make many pioneering contributions to Japanese studies.34 But, at first, his acquaintance with Japan was based on a ‘misconception’. While he was in China, Alcock happened to pick up a Japanese coin and thought he recog- nized the Chinese characters inscribed on one side of it.35 The misconception that the languages of the two countries were identical was widely prevalent in the British Empire.36 Consequently, all Japanese-speaking interpreters were first sent to Beijing to learn the ‘basic root’ knowledge of Japanese culture. And even though this source of the error is untraceable, Summers was held accountable for it.37 This unfounded accusation may have been due to his proficiency in both Chinese and Japanese, which was rather uncommon in the mid-nineteenth century. It might have been expected that he would point out the error, but it may be that he was reluctant to criticize the student interpreter programme because it was run by the Foreign Office.

3 Derailed Ambition to Join the Student Interpreter Programme in Japan

It is uncertain when Summers began to learn Japanese; no private records or personal diaries survive. However, owing to his role as a Professor at King’s, we can surmise that Summers knew of the Foreign Office’s plans to expand its

32 Hawks, Narrative of the expedition. 33 Foreign Office, Further correspondence, or FO 881/764X [19 July 1859]. 34 Much work has been done on the contributions of Alcock to Japanese studies in England; see, for example, Hugh Cortazzi, British envoys in Japan 1859-1972, 9-20, 33-38. 35 Davis, Chinese miscellanies, 90. 36 Satow, A diplomat in Japan, 18. 37 Twitchett, Land tenure and the social order in T’ang and Sung China, 6-7. interests in Japan. It is believed that he began to learn Japanese when he saw that there was a growing need for diplomatic personnel in Japan. Summers might have obtained his knowledge of Japanese language and culture from the rich collection available in the British Museum, for on 7 June 1858, Summers asked the Principal of King’s for permission to take up the position of assistant at the British Museum Library, where he would help to compile its catalogue. He informed the Principal that he had made an application to the chief librarian, Sir Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi (1797-1879), who was also a professor of Italian at the University of London. Summers was able to per- suade the Principal that the oriental collection of the British Museum Library was the best in Europe apart only from that of the library at St. Petersburg.38 He further asserted that assuming this new role would be conducive to the cul- tivation of a larger intellectual landscape for him, for his students and for the College. The minutes of the meetings of the Trustees of the British Museum tell us that Summers’ application was accepted on 7 August 1858. So it is likely that Summers took advantage of this opportunity to exploit the extensive European studies in Japanology that the library had been accumulating since the seventeenth century.39 However, less than a year after taking on this new role, Summers resigned without giving a reason. On 19 March 1859, the Trustees of British Museum accepted his resignation.40 One plausible reason for his resignation was that he saw that he had a chance to serve in the Foreign Office as an interpreter to be dispatched to Japan. Summers in any case continued to offer help at the request of British Museum in connection with the printing of the Chinese catalogue, from 1858 to 1865, until his successor Robert Kennaway Douglas was appointed in 1865. In 1860, on the initiative of the British Parliament, the Civil Service Commission was set up to organize the recruitment of all civil servants in order to make the process more fair, open, and uniform. The Foreign Office was also reformed, including its recruitment of students for its interpreter program. The nineteenth-century Foreign Office had long been accused of being a black box whose staff was usually recruited through nepotism.41 The Foreign Secretary, John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792-1878), chaired the reform committee. He was determined to revamp the hiring system so that at least the elite viewed it as fair and transparent. Specialists were also asked for their opinions during the course of programme restructuring.

38 KCL/ KA/IC/S61 [Summers to Cummingham, 7 June 1858]. 39 Kornicki, ‘European Japanology’. 40 Harris, A History of the British Museum Library, 253. 41 Mandler, Aristocratic government, 14-15. To improve the Chinese interpreter training program, Russell sought input from Summers, who was teaching Chinese to the student interpreters in London, and Thomas Wade, who was stationed in China as Chinese Secretary to the British Governor of Hong Kong and who oversaw the dispatch of interpreters to various treaty ports in that country. Wade drafted a memorandum that outlined the programme for language study and presented it to Russell.42 In it, he pointed out that sending interpreters to learn onsite was more efficient than keeping them in London to finish the course. He also drew attention to several problems relating to the interpreter course at King’s, the most serious being that it was almost impossible for the students to learn three dialects in a period of only one or two years. Wade even insinuated he was unsure about Summers’ qualifications for the job of overseeing the programme.43 The competition between Wade and Summers continued for several years. It then took a turn in favour of Wade, who had proven his vision and abilities in various fields (diplomacy, teaching, and program design) and had persuaded the Foreign Office that he had the capacity to handle all things Chinese. But, by 1860, Summers had been training interpreters in London for the Foreign Office for six years. Nevertheless, Summers had not succeeded in establishing his authority as a sinologist nor had he developed his working relationship with the Foreign Office. He even seems to have reduced his role to that of being merely the learning facilitator at King’s. Summers seems to have made a nuisance of himself with the Foreign Office by indulging in what to them seemed like unnecessary correspondence. For example, when a student was dissatisfied with the selection result, Summers encouraged the student to contact the Foreign Office, which disapproved of Summers’ way of doing things.44 Arrangements for the interpreter training programme were to be made by the institutions concerned rather than by the students or professors or the Foreign Office. Further, after Staunton died in 1859, Summers wrote to the Foreign Office and requested that a scholarship in Staunton’s name be set up. He even included in his letter the College’s announcement of the scholarship, and asked that the announcement include the Foreign Secretary’s name.45 However, there is no mention of such a scholarship in the official records of King’s College. Even if such a decision had been made, it would have been up to the Principal to contact the Foreign Office on the College’s behalf, in the same way as the nominations of the College’s top

42 FO 17/351/120 [15 March 1861]. 43 FO 228/224/125-140 [12 March 1857]; FO 228/233/39-45 [11 March 1857]. 44 FO 17/362/53 [5 January 1861]. 45 FO 17/362/223 [29 January 1861]. students were sent in the Principal’s name. A likely explanation for Summers’ behaviour is that he wanted to ingratiate himself with the Foreign Office so as to fulfill his ambition of becoming a diplomat. However, the Foreign Office found Summers’ suggestions unnecessary and inappropriate.46 The reforms proposed by the Civil Service Commission in 1860 included a uniform process of recruitment, by which all civil servants were to be recruited following a test of general aptitude. No exceptions were made for civil servants in the Foreign Office. In this new system, an applicant who knew Chinese had no clear advantage. Summers was enraged by the reform. When Lord Russell requested his opinion, he submitted it, with high hopes that the Foreign Secretary would accept his proposal. The result turned out other- wise. Following this, Summers demanded that the Foreign Office compensate him by sending him to the British Legation in Japan to act as an interpreter.47 However, when the Foreign Office was considering this request, it was most unfortunate for Summers that a member of the Foreign Office remembered the 1849 incident in Macao which had caused several British subjects to lose their lives.48 Summers’s application was rejected, thereby shattering his hopes of joining the diplomatic service. Although doubtless disappointed, Summers was nothing if not persistent and stubborn and he therefore began to explore other ways in which to serve diplomacy. From the mid-1860s to 1873, before he left London for Japan, he became an ardent printer who disseminated knowledge of Asia outside the established channels.

4 Printing Knowledge of East Asia in London

From the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, England was the prevailing site of Chinoiserie. Even in the early nineteenth century, the renowned sinologist, the Reverend Dr. Robert Morrison (1782-1834), and the first professor of Chinese, the Reverend Samuel Kidd (1799-1843), still adamantly believed that China was a colony of Egypt and that Chinese characters were relics of Egyptian hieroglyphics.49 As we have seen, Japan fared no better. Even the senior officials in the Foreign Office had made the ludicrous mistake of sending Japanese interpreters to receive their training in Beijing. In this context, Summers was

46 FO 17/362/273 [13 February 1861]. 47 FO 17/363/305-307 [20 April 1861]. 48 FO 17/363/305 [20 April 1861]. 49 See Morrison, A View of China for philological purposes, and Kidd, China: or, illustrations of the symbols, 68-77. Also Kwan, ‘Hanzi yuan wu aiji shuo’. determined to pursue new avenues so as to broaden the knowledge of Chinese of prospective interpreters and diplomats. This knowledge was much coveted at home in London, due to the boom in overseas colonial business and the accompanying increase in trade in the Far East. Summers had already published four books during his last ten years of service at King’s. Arranged chronically, they are:

Lecture on the Chinese language and literature, delivered at King’s College, (London, 13 April 1853). The Gospel of Saint John in the Chinese language, according to the dialect of Shanghai, expressed in the Roman alphabetic character with an explan- atory introduction and vocabulary (London: W. M. Watts, 1853). A Handbook of the Chinese language. Parts I and II, grammar and chrestomathy, prepared with a view to initiate the student of Chinese in the rudiments of this language, and to supply materials for his early studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1863). The Rudiments of the Chinese language: with dialogues, exercises, and vocabulary (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1864).

These publications are undoubtedly a testament to his zeal, diligence, and studiousness, but they should also been seen as pioneering efforts to make knowledge about China accessible to British readers. Before Summers, English textbooks on Chinese were published overseas in places such as Malacca, India, Hong Kong, Macau, and Canton (Guangzhou). Even though these textbooks were published by well-known presses such as the East India Company, many of them were in short supply owing to small print runs, limited market information, and the high cost of transport. For example, when Thomas Wade decided to leave the army, after the Opium War in 1842, and to become an interpreter in Hong Kong, he was desperate to learn Cantonese. But he could no longer get a copy of Robert Morrison’s seminal work, Vocabulary of the Canton dialect (1828; Guangdongsheng tuhua zihui 廣東省土話字彙).50 This was not surprising, for the East India Company Press only printed forty copies at the time.51 So, in 1843, Wade spent three months copying all six hundred entries by hand, verbatim, into a blank notebook, in order to have a personal copy, before

50 Morrison, Vocabulary of the Canton dialect. ‘Guangdong tuhua zihui’ was the original title assigned by Morrison. 51 British Library, India Office Records [hereafter IOR]: G/12/281, The Select Committee to the Court, 28 January 1830, 12. returning the original dictionary to the person who had lent it to him.52 This is just one illustration of the shortage of learning materials at the time.

A The Chinese and Japanese Repository In 1863, to respond to the growing demand for knowledge of East Asia, Summers assumed the editorial leadership of The Chinese and Japanese Repository. This journal was an offshoot of The Chinese repository, which was first issued in Canton in 1832 by the missionaries Elijah Coleman Bridgman (1801-1861) and Samuel W. Williams (1812-1884), among others, and was a comprehensive and highly acclaimed journal about China produced for an English readership. The journal ceased publishing in 1851 owing to the decline of foreign residents in Canton when the treaty ports were opened after the First Opium War. In his ‘Introductory essay’, Summers wrote that:

To old residents in China, there will be no need to explain what the original Chinese repository was; and the title of the magazine … But that work was comparatively little known in England … It is now, unfortunately, very scarce, and few have complete copies [of The Chinese repository].53

The Chinese and Japanese repository included articles reprinted from The Chinese repository, which suggests that Summers envisioned passing lost knowledge on to present and future readers.

The suggestion was made to reprint it, but to do this in its entire state would certainly not be wise. There is, however, good reason to hope that many of the original articles, if they were reprinted, would be very ac- ceptable and profitable to our readers.54

Summers in fact reprinted a very limited number of articles from the old Chinese repository. In the first volume, printed in 1863, he only reprinted a total of three. They were: ‘The Miau-Tsz, aboriginal tribes, inhabiting various highlands in the southern and western provinces of China proper’ (Oct 1863), ‘The religious sects and the principal events of the modern history of Japan’ (Nov 1863), and ‘Japan: from its political state, its people, laws, and prisons’ (Dec 1863).

52 See Kwan, ‘Wei Tuoma hanzi zimu hua de zhuiqiu’, 271-272. 53 Summers, The Chinese and Japanese repository, 1: 2. 54 Summers, The Chinese and Japanese Repository, 1: 2. By mixing reprinted articles with new, Summers was able to balance the need to preserve the legacy of the old Chinese repository with the need to reach out to a new and extended readership. He also reproduced articles he acquired from his colleagues in China through The Times and the North China Herald, which suggests that he had a huge network in Asia. The very act of including Japan as the journal’s dominant new feature signified his ability to recognise recognize the Zeitgeist and to reflect the changing political landscape. At the very least, his ambition to expand and rejuvenate the Chinese repository points to his desire to make the magazine live up to its reputation and to continue to be read and circulated, with news that would be of interest to contemporary readers. Summers was thus a good example of Nicolas Barker’s idea of the ‘potencie of life’, whereby printed artifacts survived by means of the transformative shapes and stages they took when being passed down through generations.55 The new office of The Chinese and Japanese repository was in London. However, it should not be overlooked that, to ensure quality, Summers sought help from his previous printer, at Oxford University. However, there is no available information on the number of copies Summers printed or whether his business turned a profit. But we do know that expatriate communities in Asia were in need of his services. For example, in The China review, a magazine based in Hong Kong, in its column ‘Books wanted’, and in the ‘Books wanted, exchanges, &c.’ column of another Hong Kong-based magazine, Notes and queries on China and Japan, there are clear signs of a lack of suffient available sufficient copies of The Chinese and Japanese repository.56 There were also constant requests for current or back issues. Nevertheless, after three years, the magazine abruptly shut down, with neither prior notice nor proper announcement. It is very possible that the magazine could not make ends meet, given the high quality of its Chinese fonts (Fig. 1), and its apparent limited print run. Summers had in fact taken on translation assignments in an attempt to boost his income. He also tried to promote the journal, stating that it was ‘for- warded to many parts of Eastern Asia, and it therefore forms a good medium for advertising’.57 He reminded his readers that the Chinese script was widely read in Asia: ‘N.B. The Chinese characters are understood by all educated natives of Japan, Annam, Siam, and numerous Chinese colonists in Singapore, Batavia, Borneo, Manila, Australia, and California, to which countries the Chinese and

55 Barker, A Potencie of life, 13. 56 Eitel, The China review 4 (1880): 257; Dennys, Notes and queries: on China and Japan 32.2 (1869): 32. 57 Summers, ‘Notice to advertisers’, The Chinese and Japanese repository 16 (12 November 1864). Figure 1 Chinese characters on the colophon page of the inaugural issue of The Chinese and Japanese repository (vol. 1, 1863). It was printed by Wm. H. Allen & Co., which published catalogues of books on ‘Oriental Literature’ and journals for expatriate readers in India and other parts of Asia.

Japanese repository are sent’.58 In fact, Chinese characters were only occasionally printed in the journal, but the font in which they were printed was elegant and presentable. It is possible that the technical difficulties inherent in producing and printing with these fonts had a considerable impact on the printing costs Summers had to cover.

B The Flying Dragon Reporter In 1866, Summers was determined to use his knowledge of Chinese to ven- ture into something even more groundbreaking. His Chinese newspaper, The Flying Dragon reporter: for China, Japan and the East, targeted communities with commercial, religious and colonial links to East Asia. This monthly newspaper offered a summary of European news and descriptions of inventions, machinery and manufactured goods ‘likely to be of interest to the Chinese’.59 It was printed by lithography, in broadsheet format, with numerous illustrations and advertisements. To remain profitable, the newspaper contained many commercial advertisements that ranged from engines and motors to machinery and agricultural tools. The inaugural issue (in Chinese it was numbered as ‘Issue No.1’ 第一號; in English it was, however, mistakenly numbered as No.2) was published on 14 February 1866, with a clear manifesto under Summers’ name (Suma Mashi 宿馬麻士), extolling the benefits of the modern print medium.60 This manifesto proclaimed that the newspaper was an effective medium in which to convey new knowledge that would transform the world and change the course of history. Summers registered the newspaper for

58 Ibid. 59 See issue No. 9, 14 September 1866. 60 See the inaugural issue, 14 February 1866. Figure 2 The Albion press as introduced by the Flying Dragon reporter (No 8, 14 August 1866). Council for World Mission archive, SOAS Library.

transmission abroad and he clearly wanted to reach the entire overseas market that The Chinese and Japanese repository had already appealed to. As groundbreaking as Summers’ publishing ideas were, his printing techniques were still rather primitive. The font size was not standardized, and the bilingual headline was not properly aligned. There were typos and gram- matical mistakes as well, such as occurred when he introduced an early iron hand-press printer which was widely used by private presses in Europe.61 In the text around the picture, the third character from the bottom in the second line from the left should be 龍 but Summers appears to have used a variant of his own devising. (Fig. 2) His use of lithography for The Flyer Dragon reporter Flying avoided the high cost of laying in a font of Chinese characters, but, probably because he wrote the characters himself, the result was dependent upon his knowledge of Chinese and his handwriting. The primitive techniques, limited editorial support and one-man business model militated against the possibil- ity of commercial success. In the January 1867 issue (No. 13), the editor proudly announced the newspaper’s success after one year in print. He also noted that its future direction

61 Reed, Gutenberg in Shanghai, 69. The author would like to thank Professor Christopher A. Reed for sharing his knowledge on historical printers. Figure 3 Cylinder press as shown in The Flying Dragon reporter No. 9, 14 September 1866. Harvard Yenching Institute Library, Harvard University.

would be geared more toward covering the current status of development in China so as to cater to readers’ needs. Summers also revolutionized the printing quality by importing some ‘beautiful metal type, from Hong Kong’.62 It is probable that he had also procured a new printing machine, for in 1866 he included an illustration of a new model of printer, a cylinder press (Fig. 3).63 He explained that the printing capacity was 800 to 1000 copies an hour. At this time he began to publish his newspaper on a bimonthly basis. In 1867, when China’s first diplomatic mission was sent to London, Summers’ Chinese newspaper immediately caught the attention of the envoy. The young Chinese interpreter, Zhang Deyi (1847-1918), wrote down his impres- sion of the newspaper in his travelogue, Oumei huanyouji (Travels in Europe and America), the only Chinese publication to mention the existence of the Flying Dragon reporter.

We received a Chinese newspaper, which is called the Flying Dragon reporter. It contains information on fascinating and useful tools and machinery. There are also sections on maps, international affairs, and stories. It was printed once a month, in London, with the annual price of 72 yuan. The inscription was delicate and the printing was fine. The style of writing was, however, lacking in elegancy, probably because it was written by some amateur.64

As Summers expected, new machines and technological tools captured the attention of Chinese readers, but it is just as well that he did not encounter the comments on his Chinese competence.

62 The Flying Dragon reporter, No. 13, 4 January 1867. 63 The Flying Dragon reporter, No. 9, 14 September 1866. 64 Zhang, Oumei huanyouji, 698. C India Office Library When Summers assumed the position of assistant at the India Office Library in 1868, the Library provided him with yet another valuable platform from which to achieve his ambitions. According to the Library minutes, in 1869 the proposal made by the librarian Fitzedward Hall (1825-1901), to hire Summers as an assistant was approved, and his monthly salary was to be £50.65 Hall himself was a renowned scholar of Oriental Studies, and an expert in Sanskrit and Hindustani. He became a professor at King’s College London in 1862 and also became the librarian of the India Office Library. Summers had probably got to know Hall at King’s, where Summers had long been employed. It is clear from the minutes that Hall regarded Summers’ talent highly and saw him as the ideal person to help organize the huge collection of Chinese books and manuscripts in the library’s storerooms. The East India Company had founded the library in 1798, and at that time it was on Leadenhall Street. However, this was not the Company’s most important endeavor. When the British government assumed direct control of India after the rebellion of 1857, the books, manuscripts, and other collections that had formerly been kept in the India Office Library were moved to the Colonial Office in Whitehall.66 At first, the India Office Library was not open to the public. Although it contained many rare books, had connections with many famous libraries and academic institutes around the world, and ordered new publications related to Oriental Studies (especially studies of India and Central Asia), its aim was not to serve the general reading public, but rather to provide reference materials for the Empire’s officials who were tasked with policy making. In addition, treasures, manuscripts and antiquities brought back from overseas by the colonial officials were also deposited in the Library.67 Although Summers was not a member of the Library’s full-time staff, he still had access to all of its materials. Originally, he was only responsible for cataloguing the Chinese books and manuscripts, but he gradually became entrusted with Japanese, Manchu, and Tibetan works. To ensure the quality of the first catalogue of the Far East collection, Summers provided the library with an all-in-one service.68 The catalogue was first printed partially at his press, so that the Library could get a preliminary idea of the extent of its entire collection, before the India Office Press combined all of the various parts of

65 IOR/ MSS/ EUR/ F303/ 47 [Library Minutes Reference Memorandum; March 1865 to December 1868]. 66 Datta, ‘The India Office Library’. 67 Arberry, The India Office Library. 68 IOR/ MSS /EUR/ F303/ 48/ 289 [29 May 1869]. the project into one complete catalogue. The final result was the Descriptive catalogue of Chinese, Japanese, and Manchu books in the Library of the India Office, which was printed by the India Office in-house printing press in 1872.69 And although Summers did not succeed in securing a position at the Foreign Office, he was still one of very few experts in Chinese and Japanese living in London. Many London collectors of Chinese and Japanese books sought his advice in their acquisitions.70 In fact, even after his resignation from the Library, Summers also helped the British Museum whenever he was asked.71 The minutes and daybook of the India Office Library also show that Summers borrowed many rare books that were difficult to find in Europe.72 He also donated his own journals and magazines to the Library and thus they became part of its vast collection. More importantly, Summers advised the library on its book purchases. This allowed him to develop an academic network that was composed of booksellers, scholars, and academic institutions. These advantages were not something that King’s College alone could offer him. Summers seemed to be full of energy when he worked at the India Office Library. He actively acquired books on its behalf, and the library fully supported his initiatives. Both sides seemed to have developed a collegial and congenial relationship. Fig. 4, below, gives a list of the Japanese books Summers added to the collection, including the titles and the prices he paid on behalf of the Library (in shillings; 20 shillings=£1).73 The items in the list are identified further below, with corrections of Summers’ typos and mistakes.

List of Japanese Books 1. Popular encyclopedia with illustrations (Nakamura Tekisai 中村惕斎, Kinmō zui taisei 訓蒙図彙大成, 1789) 2. Encyclopedia instructor containing a complete dictionary with illustrations (Kawabe Sōyō 河辺桑揚, Eitai setsuyō mujinzō 永代節用無盡蔵, 1831) 3. The best history of Japan (Iwagaki Tōen 岩垣東園, Kokushiryaku 國史略, 1826), 4. On the productions of Japan with illustrations (Hirase Tessai 平瀬徹齋, Nippon sankai meibutsu zue 日本山海名物圖會, 1754) 5. The celebrated places of Yedo with views (Saitō Yukio 斎藤幸雄, Edo meisho zue 江戸名所國會, 1834-36)

69 Summers, Descriptive catalogue. 70 Kornicki, ‘The Japanese Collection in the Bibliotheca Lindesiana’. 71 Harris, A History of the British Museum Library, 253. 72 IOR/ MSS/ EUR/ F303/ 10 [2 July 1869]. 73 IOR/ MSS/ EUR/ F303/ 48/ 289 [29 May 1869]. Figure 4 A list of Japanese books purchased by James Summers for the India Office Library British Library.

6. Models of Japanese epistolary style for every month (Matsuoka Shigeaki 松岡成章, Miyako bunshōjō jūnigatsu 都文章狀十二月, 1816) 7. Early lessons on ancient and modern verse (Suzuki Shigetane 鈴木重胤, Kinko waka uimanabi 今古和歌初學, 1846) 8. On [the] ancient language of Japan (Motoori Norinaga 本居宣長, Kotoba no tamanō 詞玉緒, 1779) Some of these items can be identified in the collections of the British Library, which took over the Japanese books formerly belonging to the India Office Library. Some of them, however, such as Miyako bunshōjō jūnigatsu, cannot now be traced.

D The Phoenix: A Monthly Magazine Produced for China, Japan and Eastern Asia (1870-73) Arguing that a library can become a powerful tool to shape the intellectual community, Alberto Manguel states that, ‘The power of readers lies not in their ability to gather information, in their ordering and cataloguing capa- bility, but in their gift to interpret, associate and transform their reading’.74 Summers was definitively an informative and transformative reader. The opportunity to work in the library also enabled him to launch yet another new periodical. From 1869 onwards, Summers started work on a new magazine, The Phoenix, which he edited with Reinhold Rost (1822-1896), the India Office Library’s new librarian. The collaboration between Summers and Rost can be dated back to when Summers invited Rost to contribute articles to The Chinese and Japanese repository, for which Rost was a regular contributor.75 The Phoenix aimed to spread knowledge and information about the politics, culture, and history of Asia: its readership was wider than that of The Chinese and Japanese repository and its content was richer. Some of the content was derived from the India Office Library’s resources, and some was translated from the works of other European orientalists. The inaugural issue of the Phoenix stated its purpose as follows:

The importance of bringing before the Chinese and Indian scholar facts relating to the Indo-Chinese countries and tribes has moved the Editor to appeal for support from Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India; and he is happy to be able to state that, from this quarter, he has received some encouragement…. It is to be hoped that those who receive the Phoenix under these auspices will favor us with their experience, and that new and valuable material may, thus, be presented in the pages of the Phoenix for our consideration.76

74 Manguel, The Library at night, 91. 75 Chinese and Japanese repository, vol. 1, no. 5 (Nov. 1863), 214-17. 76 The Phoenix 1.1 (July 1870), ‘preface’. Figure 5 Letterhead of The Phoenix with Summers’ invitation to Guillaume Pauthier. Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France.

To provide a more holistic view, Summers tapped the rich resources he had acquired from academics outside England. Becoming the helmsman of the Phoenix enabled him to refresh his close relationships with his European counterparts, such as Julius von Mohl (1800-1876), president of the Société Asiatique, to whom he sent complimentary copies in order to increase its circulation.77 Summers also invited European sinologists to contribute articles to his magazine, including Guillaume Pauthier (1801-1873), who translated several Chinese classical works into French.78 In his letter to Pauthier, Summers not only thanked him for his support of his endeavors, but he also took the opportunity to introduce a Japanese friend, Mr. N. Kobayashi, a Professor of English at the Yedo University (i.e., Tokyo University), so as to connect his Japanese colleague to European counterparts in order to strengthen the study of Japan throughout Europe.79

77 Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France, Papiers et correspondances du sinologue Julius von Mohl (Ms 2996/ 28-4). 78 Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France, Fragment des papiers et correspondance du sinologue Guillaume Pauthier (Ms 5500. pièce 260, Summers to G. Pauthier [26 October 1872]). 79 This was Kobayashi Norihide 小林儀秀, better known as Kobayashi Kotarō 小太郎 (1848-1904), who spent several months in England in 1872-73. The Phoenix and The Chinese and Japanese repository were two of the very few periodicals about East Asia at that time. Many of their contributors were interpreters and diplomats, including Ernest Mason Satow (1843-1929), William George Aston (1841-1911), and Frederick Victor Dickins (1838-1915), just to mention three pioneer japanologists. That they were willing repeatedly to publish their work in the periodicals Summers edited shows that, to some extent at least, they shared his vision. Later, when the study of Japan became more established in England, some of them began to criticize both Summers’ editorial abilities and his knowledge of Japanese.80 No matter whether Summers’ motive was to impress the Foreign Office or purely to advance the study of East Asia in England and to spread knowledge about Asia, we should at least acknowledge Summers’ energy and organizational abilities, especially in view of the fact that what he achieved was done on his own initiative and without institutional support. He built his little empire of Asian knowledge through his own efforts and with only a meager amount of advertisement income, and he made a significant contribution to the spread of knowledge about East Asia to civilians who were neither diplomats nor academics.81 In 1873, Iwakura Tomomi (1825-1883), the leader of the Iwakura Mission, invited Summers to teach English at Kaisei Gakuin (later, Tokyo Imperial University) in Tokyo. Summers accepted without obtaining the official ap- proval and permission of King’s College. Originally, he had requested leave for two years, but the College demurred. As a result, Summers departed without even having tendered his resignation. The College then decided to terminate his employment and hire a replacement professor of Chinese.82 Summers thus abandoned his professorship, but he took with him to Japan his extensive knowledge of Asia and his expertise in librarianship and print media. Added to this were his social network and his experience in spreading knowledge through the mass media. After he arrived in Japan, in addition to his teaching duties, he was also active in academic and literary circles, participated in editorial work in several periodicals (for example, the Japan Mail), which had just began to appear there, became a member of several different academic organizations (for example, the Asiatic Society of Japan), advanced communi- cations between English, Chinese, and Japanese academic communities, and promoted translation between these languages.

80 Satow, Sir Ernest Satow’s Private letters to W.G. Aston and F.V. Dickins, 148. 81 Yokoyama, Japan in the Victorian mind. 82 KCL/OLB/5-6/107 [23-July-1873] Cummingham to Summers. 5 Conclusion

James Summers had interests that ranged across several disciplines. He did not attain academic excellence in any particular field, but he surpassed his con- temporaries in terms of his contributions to writing and publishing in both Chinese and Japanese and on a diverse range of topics related to Asia. His editorial endeavors outside the academic institutions in which he was employed reached way beyond those of anyone else of his time. For these reasons alone, Summers is worth studying, for he incorporated Western knowledge of different areas of Asia and offered readers in Britain and much further afield a new image of East Asia, which to them was still a remote and unfamiliar region.

Bibliography

Arberry, A. J., The India Office Library: a historical sketch (London: Commonwealth Office, 1967). Barker, Nicolas, ed., A Potencie of life: books in society, (London: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 1993). Beasley, William G., Great Britain and the opening of Japan, 1834-1858 (London: Luzac, 1951). Cortazzi, Hugh, British envoys in Japan 1859-1972 (Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental, 2004). Datta, Rajeshwari, ‘The India Office Library: its history, resources and functions’, in The Library Quarterly, 36 (1966): 99-148. Davis, John. F., Chinese miscellanies: a collection of essays and notes (London: John Murray, 1865). Dennys, N. B., ed., Notes and queries on China and Japan vol. 32 no. 2 (1869). Ebihara Hachirō 蛯原八郎, ‘Taisei shinbun’ 大西新聞, in Kaigai hōji shinbun zasshishi 海外邦字新聞雑誌史 (Tōkyō: Gakujishoin, 1936), 43-48. Eitel, E. J., ed., The China Review, or, Notes and Queries on the Far East, No. 4 (1880). Foreign Office, Further correspondence relative to the Earl of Elgin’s special missions to China and Japan, 1857-1859 (London: 1859). Foster, Joseph, Alumni Oxonienses: the members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886, vol. 4 (Oxford: Parker and Co., 1887-1888). Goldman, Lawrence, Science, reform, and politics in Victorian Britain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). Harris, P. R., A History of the British Museum Library 1753-1973 (London: The British Library, 1998). Hawks, Francis, Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan, performed in the years 1852, 1853 and 1854, under the command of Commodore M. C. Perry. (United States Navy, Washington: A. O. P. Nicholson, by order of Congress, 1856). Keppel, Sir Henry, A Sailor’s life under four sovereigns (London: Macmillan and Co., 1899). Kidd, Samuel, China: or, illustrations of the symbols, philosophy, antiquities, customs, superstitions, laws, government, education, and literature of the Chinese: derived from original sources, and accompanied with drawings from native works (London: Taylor & Walton, 1841). Kornicki, Peter, ‘European japanology at the end of the seventeenth century’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 56 (1993): 502-524. Kornicki, Peter, ‘The Japanese collection in the Bibliotheca Lindesiana’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 75 (1993): 209-300. Koyama, Noboru, ‘James Summers, 1828-91: early sinologist and pioneer of Japanese newspapers in London and English literature in Japan’, in J. E. Hoare, ed., Britain and Japan: biographical portraits, vol. 3 (Folkestone, Kent: Japan Library, 1999), 25-37. Koyama, Noboru, ‘Summers, James (1828-1891)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2007) [http://www.oxforddnb .com.easyaccess1.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/view/article/47197] doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47197. Kwan, Uganda Sze Pui, ‘Translation and the British Colonial Mission: the career of Samuel Turner Fearon and the establishment of Chinese Studies in King’s College, London’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 24 (2014): 623-642. Kwan, Uganda Sze Pui, ‘Hanzi yuan wu aiji shuo: Yapian zhanzheng qianxi de yingguo hanxue yanjiu shuiping ji shou ren zhongwen jiaoshou Xiude (1799-1843) 漢字源於埃及說：鴉片戰爭前英國漢學研究水平及首任中文教授修德 (Samuel Kidd 1799- 1843) 的貢獻’, Wenxue 文學 1 (2016): 69-85. Kwan, Uganda Sze Pui, ‘Wei Tuoma hanzi zimu hua de zhuiqiu: Lun xinfaxian Wei Tuoma tengchao Malixun “Guangdong shengtuhua zihui” ji bi zhiwen “Guangdong fangyan huibian” shougao’ 威妥瑪漢字字母化的追求——論新發現威妥瑪謄抄馬禮遜《廣東省土話字彙》及裨治文《廣東方言彙編》手稿, Hanxue yanjiu 漢學研究 34.4 (2016): 263-297. Kyshe, James William Norton, The History of the laws and courts of Hong Kong from the earliest period to 1898 (Hong Kong: Vetch and Lee, 1971). Mandler, Peter, Aristocratic government in the age of reform: Whigs and Liberals, 1830- 1852 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990). Manguel, Alberto, The Library at night (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006). Morrison, Robert, A View of China for philological purposes: containing a sketch of Chinese chronology, geography, government, religion & customs (Macao: 1817). Morrison, Robert, Vocabulary of the Canton dialect, Parts 1-3 (Macao: printed at the Honorable East India Company’s Press, 1828). Nakagawa Kazuko 中川かず子, ‘Jēmuzu samāzu: Nihon kenkyūsha, kyōiku-sha to shite no sai hyōka’ ジェームズ・サマ−ズ, Hokkai Gakuen Daigaku jinbun ronshū 北海学園大学人文論集 41 (2008): 95-122. Reed, Christopher A, Gutenberg in Shanghai: Chinese print capitalism, 1876-1937 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004). Satow, Ernest Mason (edited and transcribed by Ian Ruxton), Sir Ernest Satow’s private letters to W. G. Aston and F. V. Dickins: the correspondence of a pioneer Japanologist from 1870 To 1918 (London: Lulu, 2008). Satow, Ernest Mason, A Diplomat in Japan, (Philadelphia: Seeley, Service, 1921). Sasaki Mitsuko 佐々木満子, “J. サマーズ (James Summers)” in Eigaku no reimei 英学の黎明 (Tōkyō : Kindai bunka kenkyūjo, Shōwajoshidaigaku, 1975), pp. 73-102. Shigehisa Tokutarō 重久篤太郞, ‘Nihon ni okeru Saō kenkyū no senku’ 日本に於ける沙翁硏究の先驅, Shomotsu tenbō 書物展望 2.11 (1932): 8-14. Shōwa joshi daigaku kindai bunka kenkyūshitsu 昭和女子大学近代文学研究室, ed., ‘J. サマーズ’, in Kindai bungaku kenkyū sōsho 近代文學研究叢書2 (Tokyo: Kōyōkai, 1956), 18-59. Smith, Carl T., Chinese Christians: elites, middlemen, and the Church in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005; new edition). Summers, James, ed., The Chinese and Japanese Repository vol. 1 (London: W. H. Allen and Co., 1864). Summers, James, ed., The Flying Dragon Reporter (London: Lambord Press, 1866). Lombard Summers, James, ed., The Phoenix, vol. 1, no. 1, July 1870. Summers, James, ed., A Handbook of the Chinese language. Parts I and II, Grammar and Chrestomathy, prepared with a view to initiate the student of Chinese in the rudiments of this language, and to supply materials for his early studies. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1863). Summers, James, ed., Lecture on the Chinese language and literature, delivered in King’s College (London, April 13, 1853). Summers, James, ed., The Gospel of Saint John in the Chinese language, according to the dialect of Shanghai, expressed in the Roman alphabetic character with an explana- tory introduction and vocabulary (London: W. M. Watts, 1853). Summers, James, ed., Descriptive Catalogue of The Chinese, Japanese, And Manchu Books In The Library Of The India Office, 1872 (Printed by order of The secretary of state for India in Council, 1872). Tezuka Tatsumaro 手塚竜麿, ‘Tōkyō-fu shiryō ni miru Sanmā gakkō’ 東京府史料にみるサンマー学校, in Eigakushi no shūhen 英学史の周辺 (Tōkyō: Azuma shobō, 1968), 174-93. The Morrison Education Society Annual Report (Hong Kong: Office of the China Mail, 1846). Twitchett, Dennis C., Land tenure and the social order in T’ang and Sung China (London: University of London S.O.A.S., 1962). Yokoyama, Toshio, Japan in the Victorian mind: a study of stereotyped images of a nation 1850-1880 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982). Zhang, Deyi 張德彝, Oumei huanyouji 歐美環遊記 (Cheungsha: Yuelu chubanshe, 1985), p. 698.