Collection of Art-related Books and Journals
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Many books from the special collection (marked as "toku" next to their call number in the catalogue) were lavishly published volumes with reproductions, such as the Shinbi taikan (Selected Relics of Japanese Art), Nihon kokuhō zenshū (National Treasures of Japan), or the annual catalogues of the official salon in Tokyo. To view these books, a patron needed to obtain a special permission from the library's director and provide a justification (Taiwan sotokufu toshokan gairan, showa 13/1938 page 12).
Books and other publications served as vehicles within Japan's imperial art world, transporting the knowledge of artistic practices, artworks, and the art milieu itself throughout the empire. The art-related books available in the public libraries constituted the most informal level of artistic education, available to anyone with some Japanese language skills. Although learning from books alone would not make one an artist, it kindled the imagination of young readers and provided access to reproductions.
By March 1939, the Arts section of the Taiwan Government-General Library had 6450 volumes, 199 in western languages and 6251 in Japanese and Chinese (Taiwan Sōtokufu Toshokan, Taiwan Sōtokufu Toshokan gairan Shōwa 13nendo, 3). The fine arts related chunk of the collection covered topics ranging from pre-modern to modern art in Japan, China, and the West, yet was especially strong in Japanese art. In addition, some of the Japanese language books in the collection were recent translations from European languages, for example: John Ruskin's Lectures on art (translated by Sakuma Masakazu, Geijutsu kōwa), Konrad Adolf Fiedler's Über den Ursprung der Künstlerischen Tätigkeit (translated by Kaneda Sunao, Geijutsuteki katsudō no kigen), or Ascanio Condivi's Biography of Michaelangelo (translated by Takata Hiroatsu).