Ian Ehling
Head of Department
Lot 38
19TH CENTURY TRADE WITH JAPAN. Kaigai jinbutsu [Book of Foreigners]. [Japan]: Kaei 6 [1853].
11 December 2020, 10:00 EST
New YorkUS$2,000 - US$3,000
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19TH CENTURY TRADE WITH JAPAN.
Kaigai jinbutsu [Book of Foreigners]. [Japan]: Kaei 6 [1853]. 8vo (255 x 175mm). Woodcut text, titled on upper cover, numerous woodcut illustrations of European shipbuilding, and the Russian court, stitched; together with 5 other manuscript texts on matters of trade and business with foreigners, including a customs book, dated 1800; and a printed volume from an encyclopedia set with illustrations of Native Americans, c.1840.
WITH: Accounts of shipwrecks off the coast of Japan.
Manuscript in Japanese on mulberry paper, "Fukiage Hisho Hyomin zatsuma," documenting stories of the shipwrecks of foreigners who arrived in Japan, 44 pp [Japan: 1790s]. 8vo, 44 pp, in two parts, original wrappers, stitched, upper cover with title, opening double page plan of the layout of a house, pen and ink sketch of two Dutch sailors, occasional slight worming to a few margins;
WITH: another manuscript copy of the same work, with similar pen and ink illustrations; and two other manuscript reports on ships arriving in Japan, including a Japanese Report on the arrival of a Russian ship, "shima koku ryusen no sho cho," c.1750.
The two of the manuscript works document the various stories of foreigners who were shipwrecked off the Japanese coasts, many of whom were killed outright or imprisoned so as not to give away any secrets of the outside world. The issue of the abuse of American whalers who ended up on Japan, was one of the issues raised by President Fillmore in his letter that Perry delivered in 1853, and which brought about the opening up of Japan to International trade.
WITH: Accounts of shipwrecks off the coast of Japan.
Manuscript in Japanese on mulberry paper, "Fukiage Hisho Hyomin zatsuma," documenting stories of the shipwrecks of foreigners who arrived in Japan, 44 pp [Japan: 1790s]. 8vo, 44 pp, in two parts, original wrappers, stitched, upper cover with title, opening double page plan of the layout of a house, pen and ink sketch of two Dutch sailors, occasional slight worming to a few margins;
WITH: another manuscript copy of the same work, with similar pen and ink illustrations; and two other manuscript reports on ships arriving in Japan, including a Japanese Report on the arrival of a Russian ship, "shima koku ryusen no sho cho," c.1750.
The two of the manuscript works document the various stories of foreigners who were shipwrecked off the Japanese coasts, many of whom were killed outright or imprisoned so as not to give away any secrets of the outside world. The issue of the abuse of American whalers who ended up on Japan, was one of the issues raised by President Fillmore in his letter that Perry delivered in 1853, and which brought about the opening up of Japan to International trade.