Oblique references to the Chinese side of dwarf potted tree history in English can be found in articles by John Livingstone (1820 - "Account of the Method of Dwarfing Trees and Shrubs, as practiced by the Chinese, including their Plan of Propagation from Branches," Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, Vol. IV, pg. 225.  Read June 20, 1820; letter undated from Macao; published 1822) and F.A. McClure (1933 - "Methods and Materials of Chinese Table Plant Culture," Lingnan Science Journal (Canton: Lingnan University), Vol 12, Supplement, pg. 119.  Issued May 22, 1933).

        The earliest rendering into a European language of the Chinese history in some detail was in Rolf A. Stein's 1943 book-length monograph "Jardins en miniature d'Extreme-Orient."  This still remains the most detailed investigation into the religion, cosmology, and magic of the region.  It was reprinted in an English translation (The World in Miniature, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990, of a 1987 French revision) with two other articles further examining ties with the domestic and religious architecture of East Asia.  (The original edition has not been reviewed yet to determine what early works it cited and which were first cited in the later edition.  Some later archaeological and other findings were definitely incorporated in the 1987 revision.)

        So far, the earliest known history of some length in English is H.L. Li's Chinese flower arrangement, an apparently little-known 1956 work which, despite the title, contains much about the culture of table plants/tray gardens (pp. 4-10+).

        Wu Yee-Sun presented a chronological history in the June 1974 second edition of his Man Lung Garden Artistic Pot Plants (Hong Kong: Wing-Lung Bank Ltd., pp. 62-66).

        In 1987, Yunhua Hu's Chinese Penjing, Miniature Trees and Landscapes revealed many samples of the ancient poetry and literature which mentioned dwarf potted trees, as well as many regional style details (Portland, OR: Timber Press, ISBN 0-88192-083-5, pp. 128-130+).
 
 

        The earliest known reference in English to the Japanese part of the history of dwarf potted trees was apparently in the 1901 lecture by Toichi Tsumura before the Japan Society of London (pp. 12-13).

        Shinobu Nozaki's 1940 work, Bonsai, provided the first detailed listing of plants used during the different periods of the artform's development in Japan (Tokyo: Sanseido Company, Ltd., pp. 23-27).

        Soen Yanagisawa's Tray Landscapes (Bonkei and Bonseki), 1st edition 1955, gave the first detailed history of those related artforms (Tokyo: Japan Travel Bureau, LCC #62-19637, throughout).

        The 1970 Nippon Bonsai Taiken (Bonsai Masterpieces) (Tokyo: Seibundo Shinkosha Publishing Co., Ltd.; 1972.  Compiled by the Japan Bonsai Society, Inc.  First edition in Japanese April 29, 1970) included a 20 page "Brief History of Bonsai" by Asst. Prof. Ryoji Iwasa of Chiba University (pp. 330-349).  However, this went untranslated for the 1972 English companion booklet.

        In 1989, the Nippon Bonsai Association's Classic Bonsai of Japan volume had a chapter which provided a comprehensive look at the history of both the physical and metaphysical approaches to the art by Hideo Marushima (Tokyo and New York: Kodansha, ISBN 0870119338,  pp. 140-156).  (Marushima in 1982 also published Nihon Bonsai Bonseki Shiko (An Interpretive History of Bonsai and Suiseki [sic]), which has not yet apparently been translated into English.)
 
 

        The first truly cosmopolitan view of the history can be found in Deborah R. Koreshoff's 1984 Bonsai: Its Art, Science, History and Philosophy (Brisbane: Boolarong Publications, ISBN 0-908175-75-2; also, Portland, OR: Timber Press, ISBN 0-88192-389-3, 1997, pp. 1-11+).

        The term "bonsai" in print in an English work dates from at least the year 1900 (Robert Blight (ed.) "Among the Plants: Garden, Field and Forest," Current Literature, Vol. 28, No. 3, June 1900, pg. 258).

        The term "P'oon Tsui" (an English transcription of the Cantonese pronunciation of "pen zai" ["pen tseye"] dates from at least 1933 (McClure, pg. 119).