The author visited the Lille City Library to research on Japanese and Chinese classics. These books were part of the collection found in storage belonging to Léon-Louis-Lucien Prunol de Rosny (1837-1914), professor of the first Japanese language course in France. Rosny is known as a pioneer of Japanese Studies in Europe, though his efforts are not fully appreciated in modern day.
Prof. Peter Kornicki published the catalog of Japanese Classics of Léon de Rosny’s collection (1994); as the collection gained some renown it became clear that Rosny's Japanese book collection and the Japanese teaching materials compiled by Léon de Rosny are closely related.
In addition to the Japanese books, Rosny’s collection included over 500 Chinese books, gifted to him by his teacher Stanislas Julien (1797-1873). Furthermore, it is believed that some books from Julien's teacher, Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (1788-1832), are also included, and should be valued as part of academic history. However, the catalog of Chinese books has not been published, and has not yet not been widely recognized.