Abstract When we look at the book market in the late eighteenth century, we can see a flourishing medical publishing industry that had already produced a large number of all kinds of medical manuals and health books. Why, then, did the government decide to publish the emergency handbook Kōkei saikyūhō ( Measures for immediate help for the benefit of all )? Was there some special medical knowledge that the Bakufu wanted to propagate in this publication? This article examines the motives behind its publication, the sources it is based upon, and the kinds of medicines and treatments that are recommended. A close investigation into the manual not only reveals the methods the author used to instruct readers how to perform self-help but it shows above all the process how medical information from Chinese medical classics and local sources was put into practice by combining or even substituting learned knowledge with first-hand local experience. The article concludes with an example of how medical knowledge was in fact applied by a troubled individual.
Abstract Missionaries of the London Missionary Society ( LMS ) were among the earliest foreigners to engage with Chinese printing and publishing practices in the early 19th century. While much scholarship has focused on the textual content of their publications, less attention has been paid to the material and visual aspects of these works – features that reveal a complex negotiation between cultural adaptation, missionary objectives, and external constraints. This paper examines the materiality of books collected and printed by LMS missionaries in 1807 to 1814. It begins with a discussion of the disconnect between their perceptions of print and local Chinese practices. It explores how missionaries interpreted and navigated the divide between typographic and woodblock-dominant print cultures, attempting to align their intentions with local book-making conventions. By analyzing the materials they used and the visual markers they considered essential to producing a “classical” Chinese book, the paper sheds light on how these practices evolved in response to both cultural expectations and practical contingencies. Ultimately, this study offers a new perspective on the role of missionary printing in shaping – and being shaped by – Chinese print culture, beyond the domain of typography.
