About the Book

William Anderson (1842–1900) was a Scottish surgeon who lived in Tokyo in the early Meiji period. He also served as the first chairman of the Japan Society. He is now best remembered as a collector of Japanese art (his collection formed the basis of both the Japanese department of the British Museum and the illustrated book collection at the British Library), as well as the author of the landmark book, Pictorial Arts of Japan, a pioneering work on the history of Japanese art.

This facsimile reprint collection includes a reproduction of this book (reduced in size to 80% of its original dimensions) with many colour plates, its Japanese translation by Kencho Suyematsu, and the catalogue of Anderson’s British Museum Japanese art collection, which he compiled himself.