Self through the Other: Production, circulation and reception in Italy of sixteenth-century printed sources on Japan

The book focuses on the editorial fortune of and on the imaginary built by sixteenth-century European lay and missionary sources on Japan. The author examines the cultural and economic processes that led to the circulation, or, in some cases, the lack of circulation of the sources. By exploring the interplay, in their contents, between ‘factuality’ and ‘myth’, between ‘classical imagery’ and ‘current observation’, she investigates the way their depiction of ‘Japan’ reflects ‘European’ self-images and desires. Finally, using the Italian editorial world – dominating the European book market at that time – as a case study, the author analyses the published sources from the perspective of historical bibliography, evaluating their impact on the readership.