Description
Book SynopsisThis two-volume book is a collection of previously unpublished primary sources about Japan in the years around the 1868 Meiji restoration from a rare female point of view. The author of the original manuscripts is Contessa Mathilde (1838-1911), the French spouse of the first Italian Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan, Conte Vittorio Sallier de La Tour (1827-1894).
Indeed, very little is known about the position of Italy in Japan during these crucial years, but Mathilde's collection of private sources, such as letters, notes and travel journals casts a new light on different aspects of Italo-Japanese relations: diplomacy, commerce, religion and politics, while describing, with an uncommon enthusiasm and emotion, Japan and its people before they started to embrace modernity.
The first manuscript is a set of letters about the trip from Italy to Japan, introducing Mathilde, Vittorio and other members of the small Italian community of Yokohama. The second is an unpolished dra
Table of Contents
Volume 1: Transcriptions of Mathilde’s Manuscripts in French & Sketchbook
Images and Photographs
Images of the Manuscripts
Preface & General Introduction (in French)
Acknowledgements (in French)
Editorial Notes (in French)
Part I: Le cahier de croquis de Mathilde / Mathilde’s Sketchbook (1869)
Part II: Transcriptions of Mathilde’s Notes, Letters and Travel Journals
Chapitre 1: Le voyage jusqu’au Japon - Égypte et Asie (avril-juin 1867)
Chapitre 2: Notes à propos de Yokohama et Edo (1867)
Chapitre 3: Cinq lettres envoyées du Japon et de la Chine (1867-70)
Chapitre 4: Une expedition dans l’intérieur du Japon (8-28 juin 1869)
Chapitre 5: Le voyage dans la mer intérieure du Japon et en Chine (1869-70)
Volume 2: English Translations of Mathilde’s Writings
Preface & General Introduction (in English)
Acknowledgements (in English)
Editorial Notes (in English)
Part III: Translations of Mathilde’s Notes, Letters and Travel Journals
Chapter 1: The Journey to Japan - Egypt and Asia (April-June 1867)
Chapter 2: Notes about Yokohama and Edo (1867)
Chapter 3: Five Letters sent from Japan and China (1867-70)
Chapter 4: An Expedition into the Interior of Japan (June 8th-28th, 1869)
Chapter 5: A Journey in the Inland Sea of Japan and China (1869-70)
References
Index
