Bibliotheca Japonica: A Review of Five Catalogs of Premodern Japanese Books and Manuscripts in Western Collections

A review of five catalogs of collections of premodern Japanese books and manuscripts from Western collections: the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies (London), the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library, the Nordenskiold Books in the Royal Library (Stockholm), the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin), and the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin, Ireland). The article describes the historical background of these collections and elucidates issues related to bibliographic and physical description of premodern (before 1868) Japanese books and manuscripts