The challenges of publishing Japanese sources in 19th century Europe

This paper aims to illustrate the challenges European Orientalists faced in their work when it came to gathering information or translating and publishing Japanese language texts and images. On this purpose, I will introduce four protagonists, August Pfizmaier (1808–1887), Aimé Humbert (1819–1900), Léon Metchnikoff (1838–1888) and François Turrettini (1845–1908), whose works reflect the rapid development of Japanese Studies in the mid-nineteenth century.