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Here's some more research on all the German personal libraries in Japan – with stuff on German reparations to Japan after WWI, intellectual aid, a major project of book donations from Britain and Japanese marxists buying books in 1920s Berlin. It's not medieval history, but pretty fascinating anyway

Reparation and restoration: German and British books in Japan

Liebermann’s library is only one of many European collections that made their way to Japan in the 1920s. Their journeys are part of a fascinating story of international aid and reparations in the afte...

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And here's a cool First World War kimono (picture taken from the book 'Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain')

A kimono with fabric showing war ships, a Zeppelin and a newspaper reporting the German declarations of war on France and Russia of 3 August, 1914 in Japanese.

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Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research in Japan｜Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

It could contain ideas for interesting projects for anyone who wants to apply for a JSPS fellowship (open to postdocs or permanent academics afaik) www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-in...

jsps.go.jp

Official Website of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

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Reparation and restoration: German and British books in Japan

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Reposted by Ingrid Ivarsen

Emiliano Mellino @mellino.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The UK government is making upwards of £4.9bn in profit from visa fees, citizenship fees & the immigration health surcharge. Meanwhile, people are getting into thousands of pounds of debt or going without food just to afford to these immigration fees. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

thebureauinvestigates.com

Government makes £5bn a year from immigration fees while applicants…

Home Office’s fees are up to 10 times the processing cost – and rising every year

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

EHR accepted my 25,000 word article!

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This was in the Byline Times article on him from a few weeks ago

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

And teaching needs, perhaps. When I was at Oxford, it seemed to e that students were overwhelmingly interested in taking modern papers and writing dissertations on 19th/20th century UK/US history

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Come come! There'll be lots of interesting 19th-century stuff + I'll be talking about Felix Liebermann and the first world war

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Reposted by Ingrid Ivarsen

Dr Ellen Gallimore @emgallimore.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I hope you've kept your Thursday of @imc-leeds.bsky.social clear to attend all 3 sessions of Old English in the Long 19th Century! Join us in Laidlaw Library Teaching Room 1 for nine papers on the impact of Old English language, literature, and law in the 19th century. #IMC2026 #medievalsky

Schedule for three Leeds IMC sessions on Thursday 9 July from 9:00-10:30, 11:15-12:45, and 14:15-15:45.

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This was done through Elisabeth Rotten's organisation Auskunfts- und Hilfsstelle für Deutsche im Ausland und Ausländer in Deutschland. She organised the loan of books and scientific equipment to British prisoners in Germany – on the premise that German prisoners in Britain would get the same 4/4

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In 1918 Felix Liebermann lent some books on Welsh history to David Evans, who was involved in teaching Welsh and Celtic studies at Ruhleben. (Liebermann later cited this as one of the many things that showed his moderate and balanced views of England during the war) 3/4

The inside cover of Seebohm's 'The Tribal System in Wales', with a note and some stamps stating that the book was lent from Prof Liebermann to Mr Evans through the organisation 'Auskunfts- und Hilfsstelle für Deutsche im Ausland und Ausländer in Deutschland’. Another stamp shows that it was later released from Ruhleben.

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This image is from the camp magazine and shows one of the many academic lessons that took place in the camp – the prisoners organised a full programme of lectures and language classes, so many that it was called "the university of Ruhleben" 2/4

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I'm enjoying this portrayal of historians from the Ruhleben internment camp – where British civilians were held as prisoners during the first world war. 1/4

Four people in historical dress with big brains sit around a table reading and writing. A stack of books under the table includes such titles as "Highbrow Volume 1"

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Oops, a much better picture of that page here

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If anyone wants to know more about anything, feel free to get in touch. I have a lot more information than posted here!

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Sadly the post has fewer pictures than I'd like (for permission reasons). But I can post some, for example this from Liebermann's own copy of Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen

A double-page from the second volume of Liebermann's Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen. The right-hand page has printed text and the left-hand page has annotations in Liebermann's handwriting.

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A niche subject, perhaps, but for anyone interested, here is a copy of the catalogue of Felix Liebermann's library ingridfiv.github.io/ingridsblog/...

A catalogue of the Liebermann Library in Tokyo

A complete-as-possible catalogue of the books owned by Felix Liebermann.

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Man, I had been warned that there are a lot of rules and bureaucracy in Japan, but still gets me annoyed that you can't take pictures of any book in the university library – but you can fill in a lengthy form so that someone else can make a paper photocopy for you. Won't even send the digital scan!

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Certainly. He also sent away parts of Thorpe’s edition for someone in England to do some work for him. He scribbled questions in the margin and they responded. And then it was rebound into the edition again

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In general, he cut out pages or sections of editions to take to archives in England and then used them to note variants from different manuscripts. He actually describes doing this in a letter! But I've only seen one other example where he cuts out part of a page

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And I certainly wouldn't cut out part of the page, as Liebermann seems to have done a section of Leges Eadwardi from Wilkins! (He did this to other editions as well.) 3/3

A page from Leges Eadwardi in Wilkins's edition. The area with text has been cut out and pasted back in. It has annotations in pen.

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If I owned a copy of Lambarde from 1568, I wouldn't be using it to note down manuscript variants... 2/3

The text in Old English and Latin of part of Cnut's laws from Lambarde's edition. The Old English text has been underlined and annotated in pencil and red crayon.

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Felix Liebermann owned quite a lot of very old books, including first editions of all previous editions of the early English laws. Lucky him! Here are his copies of Lambarde (1568), Whelock (1644) and Wilkins (1721)! 1/3

The title page of William Lambarde's Archaionomia from 1569

The title page of Abraham Whelock'ss Archaionomia from 1644

The title page of David Wilkins's Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ ecclesiasticæ & civiles from 1721

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Reposted by Ingrid Ivarsen

You can almost hear the crotchety voice of this retired WWI general in his volunteer form to help with evacuating London in 1939. "Previous experience: ??? - see books of reference Available now for voluntary social work if required? I don't know what social work means"

Form for the government evacuations scheme filled out by Sir Hubert Gough

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I've been told about this gasp before! It's definitely pretty special to see them in real life

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

For anyone in Tokyo: I'll be speaking at this thing on Friday. Please come! #skystorians

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Turns out there's more to Felix Liebermann than just obsessiveness about manuscripts and a fondness for difficult German. ingridfiv.github.io/ingridsblog/...

What do we know about Felix Liebermann the man?

Felix Liebermann’s life

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

My whole career and life in the UK started with an Erasmus year in St Andrews. Safe to say it changed my life. Hurray for the British students who'll get this opportunity again! www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

theguardian.com

UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme

Exclusive: British students will be able to participate in EU-wide scheme from January 2027, sources say

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Reposted by Ingrid Ivarsen

Robert Gallagher @hwaetspur.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

The ad for the second postdoctoral position on our @leverhulme.ac.uk Britain’s Early Medieval Letters project is now live. We’re looking for an Old English specialist (who also works with Latin). 32-month FT post. Deadline for apps is 16 Jan 🙂 jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

jobs.kent.ac.uk

Job Opportunity at the University of Kent: Postdoctoral Research Associate

Are you passionate about early medieval Britain? Do you have advanced knowledge of Old English and proficiency in Medieval Latin? If yes, then you may be interested in this fixed term full time post...

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Tl;dr Felix Liebermann's library has been at the University of Tokyo since the 1920s.

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Ingrid Ivarsen @ingridfi.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

I'm currently in the strange situation of living in Tokyo as a JSPS fellow to do my research on Anglo-Saxon law. Why? Well, just look here! ingridfiv.github.io/ingridsblog/...