In November 2021 Peter Kornicki donated his collection of old Japanese and Korean books to the Bodleian. Amongst them is a book printed in Japan in 1278. Printed? In 1278? Really? How is that possible?

In this talk Peter will talk about his collection, and how it was built up, and he will introduce some of its highlights. The origins and development of printing in Europe and East Asia are very different so he will also set his collection in the context of the early development of printing in East Asia, where the earliest examples of printing were not intended to be read by anybody.

Peter Kornicki FBA, Emeritus Professor of Japanese, Robinson College, Cambridge

This talk is supported by the Friends of the Bodleian.