James Summers occupied the professorship of Chinese for two decades at King’s College London. He was also a trailblazer in promoting the study of Japanese culture in Victorian Britain, but he has been an underrated and understudied figure in British history.

Summers was an ardent supporter of modern printing. He believed printed media was the most effective medium to transform British perceptions of Asia, which in turn would help support Britain’s foreign political, commercial and missionary enterprise. He also orchestrated the printing of catalogues and journals in his capacity as library assistant to the British Museum and the India Office Library. He even set up his own press to print a newspaper in order to disseminate knowledge of East Asia to a broader readership. Based on primary materials that have rarely been used before, this paper positions Summers in the study of book history, material culture and print mediums in order to reassess his pioneering efforts in Sinological studies.

詹姆斯·萨默斯（James Summers）在伦敦国王学院（King's College London）担任中文教授二十年。他在推动维多利亚时代的英国对日本文化的研究方面也是开拓者，但在英国历史上却一直被低估和研究不足。

萨默斯是现代印刷的热心支持者。他认为印刷媒体是改变英国对亚洲的看法的最有效媒介，这反过来将有助于支持英国的外国政治，商业和宣教事业。他还以大英博物馆和印度办公室图书馆的图书馆助理的身份策划了目录和期刊的印刷。他甚至建立了自己的出版社来印刷报纸，以便将东亚的知识传播给更广泛的读者。基于以前很少使用的主要材料，本文将萨默斯定位于书籍历史，材料文化和印刷介质的研究中，以重新评估他在汉学研究方面的开拓性努力。