The distinguished diplomat Sir Ernest Satow's retirement began in 1906 and continued until his death in August 1929. From 1907 he settled in the small town of Ottery St. Mary in rural East Devon, England. He was very active, serving as a British delegate at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907 and on various committees related to church, missionary and other more local affairs: he was a magistrate and chairman of the Urban District Council. He had a very wide social circle of family, friends and former colleagues, with frequent distinguished visitors. He produced two seminal books: A Guide to Diplomatic Practice (1917, now in its seventh revised edition and referred to as 'Satow') and A Diplomat in Japan (1921). The latter is highly evaluated as a rare foreigner's view of the years leading to the Meiji Restoration of 1868. This book in two volumes is the last in a series of Satow's diaries edited by Ian Ruxton. This is the first-ever publication.

The distinguished diplomat Sir Ernest Satow's retirement began in 1906 and continued until his death in August 1929. From 1907 he settled in the small town of Ottery St. Mary in rural East Devon, England. He was very active, serving as a British delegate at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907 and on various committees related to church, missionary and other more local affairs: he was a magistrate and chairman of the Urban District Council. He had a very wide social circle of family, friends and former colleagues, with frequent distinguished visitors. He produced two seminal books: A Guide to Diplomatic Practice (1917, now in its seventh revised edition and referred to as 'Satow') and A Diplomat in Japan (1921). The latter is highly evaluated as a rare foreigner's view of the years leading to the Meiji Restoration of 1868. This book in two volumes is the last in a series of Satow's diaries edited by Ian Ruxton. This is the first-ever publication.

This volume consists mainly of letters exchanged between Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929) and his former subordinate John Harington Gubbins (1852-1929) in their retirement, from 1906 to 1927. There are also some letters from Satow to the Japanese art collector and businessman the Hon. Henry Marsham (1845-1908) in the period 1894-1907. An expert foreword by Dr. J.E. Hoare, formerly of HM Diplomatic Service and a teaching fellow at SOAS, is included. Volume I consists of Satow's correspondence with William George Aston and Frederick Victor Dickins, and is mainly on Japanology. Volume III consists of Satow's correspondence with Lord Reay, on international law and the social, political and economic situation in Europe and the UK before, during and after World War One.

Nos. 1- include section "Books on Japan."

The diaries begin with Satow's journey home from his last diplomatic post in China. He travels via Japan, Hawaii, mainland United States and the Atlantic to Liverpool. In 1907 he attends the Second Hague Peace Conference as Britain's second delegate. He settles with some ease into rural life in Devon, keeping busy with local commitments as a magistrate, supporter of missionaries etc. and launching a major new career as a scholar of international law. The Foreword is by Professor Ian Nish of the LSE.

This book illuminates two familiar phenomena – diplomacy and the Commonwealth – from a new and unfamiliar angle: the atypical way in which the Commonwealth’s members came to, and continue to, engage in official relations with each other. This innovative and wide-ranging study is based on archival material from four states, interviews and correspondence with diplomats, and a wide range of secondary sources. It shows how members of an empire found it necessary to engage in diplomacy and, in so doing, created a singular, and often remarkably intimate, diplomatic system. The result is a fascinating, multidisciplinary exploration of the evolving Commonwealth and the way in which its 53 members and Ireland conduct diplomacy with one another, and in so doing have contributed a distinctive terminology to the diplomatic lexicon.