Fonds/Series
Western Books
Hierarchy
- Title
- Western Books
- Date
- 18th Century-20th Century
- Level of Description
- fonds
- Extent
- ４５，０００件||45,000 items
- Archival History
- There are manuscripts on various western countries'history, politics, and law books which the early Meiji government researched and translated, government publications of the Meiji period, and many already rare political and legal books purchased from United Kingdom, the United States and France during the Meiji and Taisho periods. Of the surving Western books, some German,French,Dutch,and etc,were destroyed again in air raids in 1945,
- Scope and Content
- Most of the foreign books in the Naikaku Bunko concerned social science, particularly jurisprudence. They should be evaluated, not so mauch by their contents as by their worth as reference material of the modern history of Japan, since they are direct and concrete evidence of the kind of European and American literature consulted by the various agencies of the Meiji Government in conducting their administrative operations. Furthermore, some of books bear the signatures of famous politicians, scholars and foreign advision of the Meiji Period.
- Language
- English, French, German and etc.
- Finding Aids
- The catalogue database is not available. Booklet catalogue "Classified catalog of Foreign Books "
- Publication Note
- "100 Years' History of Naikaku Bunko," Cabinet Library, 1985
https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/fonds/en/3032395
[Fonds/Series] "Western Books", National Archives of Japan Digital Archive, https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/fonds/en/3032395（accessed 2026-05-15）
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