The documents are dated Hakodate, Hiogo, Kanagawa, Simonoseki, Tokyo and Yokohama, and include a specification of sums debited to Jardine, Matheson & Co. on account of the 'Reiver', 1863; 'Extracts from E.M. van Reed's Letters', Simonoseki, September 1864; 'Extras' to the 'Japan Commercial News', 'Japan Gazette' and 'Hiogo News', 1863-1871 and undated; a copy of the Convention of Yedo, 1866; a form of tender for conveying Her Majesty's mail between Calcutta and Yokohama [1867]; reports of a committee regarding the depreciation of native coin, Yokohama, April 1869, with related newspaper cuttings; particulars of trade for Japan, 1875-1884, compiled from the annual returns of the Imperial Customs, and a list of silk shippers from Yokohama, 1871-1872; notices regarding the appointment of agents for the Takasima colliery, 1874 and 1878; customs regulations of the port of Hakodate, 1870s; a contract between Rear-Admiral Stackelberg, commanding the Russian squadron off Japan, and Nakahara Kuninosuke, agent for Goto Shojiro, proprietor of the Takasima mines, 1880; a newspaper cutting regarding the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, 1885; and particulars of the 'Tenkai-Maru' and 'Kanagawa Maru', 1886. The documents include reference to K. Awoki; A.R. Brown; F. Geisenheimer; J. Mammelsdorf; J.G. Walsh; Saigo Yorimichi; Post Office; Russian Navy; Calcutta; India; diplomacy; fabric; and shipping.