“Brosset Collection”: The History of Early Ac-quisitions of Japanese Manuscripts and Woodblock-Printed Books by the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and by the Asiatic Museum (1791–1864)

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The article presents the results of a study of the history of early acquisitions of Japanese manuscripts and woodblock-printed books to the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and by the Asiatic Museum from 1791 to 1864, previously known under the collective name of the Brosset collection. The main sources for the study were the catalogs of Chinese and Japanese books by I. Busse (1798), P. Kamensky and S. Lipovtsev (1818), M.F. Brosset (1840, additions until 1864), as well as lists of some acquisitions by the Asiatic Museum and by the Academy of Sciences housed at the Archive of Orientalists of the IOM, RAS, and at the St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The method of work involved comparing the titles of books mentioned in each of the catalogs or lists with the Japanese manuscripts and woodblock-printed books stored today at the IOM, RAS. As a result, it was found that the Brosset Collection was made up of acquisitions from at least nine donors, including valuable collections by Daikokuya Kodayu, J.A. Stutzer, the Russian-American Company, P.L. Schilling and K.I. Maksimovich.