Peter N. Davies is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Liverpool University. A former President of both the International Commission for Maritime History and of the International Maritime Economic History Association, he has also served as a Visiting Professor at Musashi University, Tokyo, and at Shudo University, Hiroshima. His published works include studies of major Liverpool shipping companies and (with Tomohei Chida) of the Japanese shipping and shipbuilding industries.

• Preface; List of Tables; List of Plates; Glossary; PART I: The Business, Life and Times of Frederick Cornes; 1 Background to Trading with Meiji Japan; 2 The Life and Career of Frederick Cornes; 3 Lasting Success of the Cornes' Enterprise; 5 The Legacy of Frederick Cornes; PART II: The Frederick Cornes Correspondence; Summaries of letters; Appendices: 1 Frederick Cornes: Abbreviated Family Tree; 2 John Corns: Summary of Will; 3 Frederick and Henrietta Cornes: Summary of Wills; 4 Frederick Cornes: Transcribed Will; 5 William Gregson Aspinall: Abbreviated Family Tree; 6 William Gregson Aspinall: Summary of Will; 7 Partners in the Cornes' Enterprise; 8 Aspinall, Cornes: Principal Trade Items, and Prices; 9 Cornes's Links with P&O; 10 Japanese Imports; Bibliography; Index