Rare Original Albumen PhotographJapanese SericultureSorting CocoonsFeeding Silkworms1890sJapan, circa 1890s. Original numbered albumen photograph taken by an unidentified Japanese photographer, titled “Feeding Silk Worrms” (sic), showing four females doing the task and one man sorting cocoons in a basket. Photograph measures … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: March 2023
Japanese MushroomsMedicinal PlantsFrom the Colossal Botanical Treatise“Honzo Zufu”By Iwasaki TsunemasaSpectacular Colour IllustrationsEarly 1900sIwasaki Tsunemasa (Kan-en)Title: Honzo Zufu [Illustrated Manual of Medicinal Plants / Iconographia Plantarum]Japan, early 1900s. A most pleasing and highly illustrative Japanese monograph on mushrooms, being a copy … Continue reading
Shunshô and ShigemasaCultivating Silk WormsAnd 12 Stages of Silk ProductionJapanese Colour Woodblock PrintsRare Eighteenth Century Tutorial Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820) and Katsukawa Shunshô (1725-1792) Kaiko yashinaigusa (Cultivation of Silk Worms) A complete series of 12 Edo or Tokugawa Period Chuban Japanese … Continue reading
Travels in Malaysia and IndonesiaBotanist Report with PhotographsPrimary SourceRubber Trade SurveyWith Observations ofTea – Coffee – Tobacco – Cocoa – Rice1911Java, Federated Malay States, Ceylon, 1911. Expedition report of botanist Robert Fyffe, 1st Assistant Forestry Officer for the Uganda Botanical, … Continue reading
New Map of the Himalayas – Partially UnchartedGodwin Austen 1884 Title: The Mountain Systems of the Himalaya and Neighbouring Ranges of India. Author: Godwin-Austen, Lieut.-Col. H.H.Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, 1884. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. Notes & Condition: One very large folding … Continue reading
Three Autographs of Hardy AmiesIn Volumes From His Personal LibraryWith Bookplate and Signature1928-1933 Germany, 1928-1933. Three (3) original signatures of Hardy Amies, the couturier for Queen Elizabeth for some thirty-nine years, contained in three books from his personal library, and each … Continue reading
Rare Japanese ManuscriptEarly British Appearance at Edo JapanDuring Sakoku Isolation EraForeigners Forbidden EntryHMS Mariner Survey ExpeditionWith Castaway OtokichiPre-dating Commodore Perry by Four Years1849嘉永二年酉閏四月 暗ヶ利亜舩渡来記[Kaei Ni-nen Tori-uru Shi-gatsu: Angeria-sen Toraiki. “Record of the Arrival of a Ship from Anglia, Fourth Month … Continue reading
Nanpo Islands – OgasawaraAnijima, Chichijima, and HahajimaProposed for Agragarian SettlementWoodcut Hand Coloured MapBy Tojo Kindai1848Banned by ShogunateDuring Tempo ReformJapan’s First Overseas ColonyPossessions in the Pacific14 Years Before Annexation伊豆七島全圖 附無人島八十嶼圖相武房總海岸圖[The Complete Map of the Seven Islands of Izu with a Map … Continue reading
Hong Kong HarbourRare Early Panorama PhotographBy William Pryor FloydColonial China1869 Hong Kong, 1869. Exceedingly scarce and large panoramic albumen photograph of the area known as “Central” in Hong Kong, produced by renowned nineteenth century photographer William Pryor Floyd. A very … Continue reading
German Photo Illustrated Monthly MagazineDescribing the Far EastChina – Japan – Korea – IndochinaDer Ferne OstenBy Carl FinkVery Scarce Near-Complete Run1902-1906Carl FinkTitle: Der Ferne Osten. [The Far East].Shanghai: C. Fink, Deutsche Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt, 1902-1906. Exceedingly scarce consecutive and nearly-complete run … Continue reading