The study and reception of Samuel Johnson’s work has long been embedded in Japanese literary culture. The essays in this collection reflect that history and influence, underscoring the richness of Johnson scholarship in Japan, while exploring broader conditions in Japanese academia today. In examining Johnson’s works such as the Rambler (1750-52), Rasselas (1759), Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1779-81), and Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), the contributors—all members of the half-century-old Johnson Society of Japan—also engage with the work of other important English writers, namely Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, and Matthew Arnold, and later Japanese writers, including Natsume Soseki (1867-1916). If the state of Johnson studies in Japan is unfamiliar to Western academics, this volume offers a unique opportunity to appreciate Johnson’s centrality to Japanese education and intellectual life, and to reassess how he may be perceived in a different cultural context. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

The study and reception of Samuel Johnson’s work has long been embedded in Japanese literary culture. The essays in this collection reflect that history and influence, underscoring the richness of Johnson scholarship in Japan, while exploring broader conditions in Japanese academia today. In examining Johnson’s works such as the Rambler (1750-52), Rasselas (1759), Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1779-81), and Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), the contributors—all members of the half-century-old Johnson Society of Japan—also engage with the work of other important English writers, namely Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, and Matthew Arnold, and later Japanese writers, including Natsume Soseki (1867-1916). If the state of Johnson studies in Japan is unfamiliar to Western academics, this volume offers a unique opportunity to appreciate Johnson’s centrality to Japanese education and intellectual life, and to reassess how he may be perceived in a different cultural context. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

This is the fourth part of a successful facsimile series which reprints The Modern Traveller, originally published in 30 volumes between 1825 and 1829. Edited by Josiah Conder, the editor of journals like The Eclectic Review or The Patriot, The Modern Traveller was a successful series of travel books published just prior to Britain's transport revolution which saw the development and rapid expansion of roads and railways. Reflecting Britain's imperial ambitions and the expansion of its Empire around the globe, the series had global range, including coverage of the Middle East, Africa, North & South America, and Asia. It provided general readers with the latest information on each country's geography, history, political situation, culture, customs, major cities, travel routes along historic sites, scenic spots, and so on. Each volume contains illustrations and foldout maps which are all faithfully reproduced in the reprint. The fourth part of the series is from the 20th to the 25th volume. It covers Africa and North America, which were both of geopolitical and of commercial interests to Britain in the early nineteenth-century, particularly in view of the slavery trade. Including very interesting descriptions and pre-Victorian British views of the area, these newly available volumes are a valuable source for any researcher interested in the history of the relationships between Britain and those new continents.

This is the third part of a successful facsimile series which reprints The Modern Traveller, originally published in 30 volumes between 1825 and 1829. --Edited by Josiah Conder, known as the editor of journals like The Eclectic Review or The Patriot, The Modern Traveller was a successful series of travel books published just prior to Britain's transport revolution which saw the development and rapid expansion of roads and railways. --Reflecting Britain's imperial ambitions and the expansion of its Empire around the globe, the series had global range, including coverage of the Middle East, Africa, North & South America, and Asia. It provided general readers with the latest information on each country's geography, history, political situation, culture, customs, major cities, travel routes along historic sites, scenic spots, and so on. --Each volume contains illustrations and foldout maps which are all faithfully reproduced in the reprint. -- The third part of the series is from the 14th to the 19th volume. It covers the countries around the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea which were of geopolitical special interest to Britain in the early nineteenth-century (twenty years or so before the Crimean War erupted). -- Including very interesting descriptions and pre-Victorian British views of the area, these newly available volumes are a valuable source for any researcher interested in the history of the relationships between Britain and Russia, Turkey, and other European countries.

Published by Eureka Press, Tokyo, and distributed outside Japan by Routledge.

This is the second part of a new facsimile series which reprints "The Modern Traveller," originally published in 30 volumes between 1825 and 1829.

--Edited by Josiah Conder, known as the editor of journals like "The Eclectic Review" or "The Patriot," "The Modern Traveller "was a successful series of travel books published just prior to Britain s transport revolution which saw the development and rapid expansion of roads and railways.

--Reflecting Britain s imperial ambitions and the expansion of its Empire around the globe, the series had global range, including coverage of the Middle East, Africa, North & South America, and Asia. It provided general readers with the latest information on each country s geography, history, political situation, culture, customs, major cities, travel routes along historic sites, scenic spots, and so on.

--Each volume contains illustrations and foldout maps which are all faithfully reproduced in the reprint.

-- The second part of the series is from the seventh volume to the thirteenth: the four volumes from the seventh to the tenth are for India; the eleventh for Burma, Siam, and Anam; the twelfth and the former part of the thirteenth for Persia; and the latter part of the thirteenth for China.

-- Including very interesting description and views of Britain to the Asia in early 19th century, those volumes are valuable source for any researchers on the history of relationship between Britain and Asian countries.

Extract from the New Introduction to the 1st part by Noriyuki Harada

--- Publishing in the early nineteenth century greatly influences scientific reasoning and dissemination of knowledge. "The Modern Traveller: A Description, Geographical, Historical, and Topographical of the Various Countries of the Globe," now reprinted and published by Eureka Press in Japan, can be regarded as one of the most influential volumes of this type of publication. It was originally serialized from 1825 to 1829 and was finally compiled and published by James Duncan, a London publisher, in 1830 as the whole set of thirty volumes on which this reprint edition is based. The text of the 1830 edition is almost the same as that of the first serialized publication except for some corrections by the editor himself; the original maps as well as illustrations, too, are improved in the 1830 edition. This Eureka Press edition magnifies the 1830 edition twenty per cent for the reader s convenience.--- --- How can we now evaluate the whole set of thirty volumes of "The Modern Traveller"? Conder s close examination of early nineteenth-century travel books is of course replaced and updated by more modern "Geographical, Historical, and Topographical" research; as for maps and illustrations, too, we can use more accurate and convenient means. Although the unity of geographical, historical and topographical description is still useful and valuable, better versions are available for the modern reader. It may be that the excellent unity of "The Modern Traveller" itself requires a revision after nineteenth- and twentieth-century colonialism, imperialism, Darwinism, and sceptical thoughts on the advancement of knowledge.

However, we should not forget that Conder s editorial process clearly shows the way to understand the world and the energy his contemporaries held in general. Being well aware of academic advancement in geography, he strenuously accumulated information and knowledge, and examined them closely. This accumulation of information and knowledge can be widely observed in many academic and scientific disciplines from the late eighteenth century; successive publication of dictionaries of various genres, encyclopaedias like "Encyclopaeedia Britannica" (first published from 1768 to 1771), and numerous literary anthologies clearly illustrates the tendency. As mentioned above, the adjective "Modern" seems to have Conder s special connotation of his academic and scientific interest, but the whole set of thirty volumes of "The Modern Traveller" tells the energy of early nineteenth-century people who were eager to understand the modern world. And needless to say, this energy directed the world to the nineteenth- and twentieth-century situation that we know well in the history of modern international relations. As a reprint edition, this Eureka Press version of "The Modern Traveller" maintains the energy as well as remaining faithful to the original and keeping its form intact.

Half a century after the publication of "The Modern Traveller," Conder s grandson, Josiah Conder the younger (1852-1920), came to that country of Japan to which his grandfather had not given a volume of description in the edition, and made a large contribution to Japanese modern architecture. Some of the buildings he designed and those by the Japanese architects of a younger generation he educated are extant and fully utilized for the original purpose. In a sense, "The Modern Traveller" still continues travelling and the footsteps reveal the essence of the modernization of the world on which we should lay the foundation of our thoughts about its future. "

--This is the first part of a new facsimile series which reprints "The Modern Traveller ," originally published in 30 volumes between 1825 and 1829.

--Edited by Josiah Conder, known as the editor of journals like "The Eclectic Review" or "The Patriot," "The Modern Traveller "was a successful series of travel books published just prior to Britain s transport revolution which saw the development and rapid expansion of roads and railways.

--Reflecting Britain s imperial ambitions and the expansion of its Empire around the globe, the series had global range, including coverage of the Middle East, Africa, North & South America, and Asia. It provided general readers with the latest information on each country s geography, history, political situation, culture, customs, major cities, travel routes along historic sites, scenic spots, and so on.

--Each volume contains illustrations and foldout maps which are all faithfully reproduced in the reprint.

--Important primary source for researchers and students of tourism, history of the British Empire, and Orientalism.