Forum Rare Books

Rare first and only edition of an important account of the Christian missions, by an Augustinian in Mexico

SICARDO, José (Joseph). Christiandad del Japon, y dilatada persecucion que padecio. Memorias sacras, de los martyres de las ilustres religiones de Santo Domingo, San Francisco, Compañia de Jesus; ...
Madrid, Francisco Sanz, 1698. Folio (31 x 22 cm). With the title in a frame of vine-leaf ornaments and 2 woodcut armorial headpieces plus 1 repeat. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment, later lettered spine-title. [16], 448 [= 450], [13], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 35,000

India & Sri Lanka Japan & Far East Jesuits

Siebold's last journey to Japan, in original publisher's wrappers

SIEBOLD, Alexander Freiherr von. Ph. Fr. von Siebold's letzte Reise nach Japan 1859-1862 ... von seinem ältesten Sohne.
Berlin, Kisak Tamai, 1903. 8vo (22.5 x 14 cm). With title-page in Japanese and German, 2 half-tone plates showing photographic portraits of Philip von Siebold (1 with his son Alexander) and 3 photographic views in the text. Original publisher's printed cloth-covered paper wrappers, with publisher's advertisements printed on paste-downs. IX, [1], 130, [4], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Japan & Far East Medicine & Pharmacy (19th Century) Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages East Asia

Newly discovered shells from the Arabian Gulf, Taiwan, China and Japan, with a chromolithographed plate

SMITH, Edgar. Descriptions of five new shells from the Island of Formosa and the Persian Gulf, and notes upon a few known species.Including: BOCK, Carl. Descriptions of two new species of shells from China and Japan.
[London], 18 June 1878. With a chromolithographed plate depicting 14 shells. Modern paper wrappers. 727-732 pp. Full description

€ 850

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States China Colour Printing / Chromolithography Faunas & General Zoology Formosa / Taiwan Iran / Persia Japan & Far East Shells & other Invertebrates

Rich iconographic record of an Austrian expedition to the East Indies,
the first to significantly attempt to open commercial channels with China,
with drawings of Singapore, China, Hong Kong, and the Phillippines

[SOUTH EAST ASIA - SMS AURORA - CHINA - SINGAPORE - PHILIPPINES]. Views of South-East Asia, China and Japan drawn on the voyage of SMS Aurora.
[China, Singapore, the Philippines, SMS Aurora (at sea)], 1886-1888. Oblong folio (17.9 x 40 cm). With 37 sheets of sketches in pencil, black ink, and grey wash, mounted on cards, most captioned and dated. Modern quarter black morocco over blue cloth boards, gold-tooled spine, and a gold-tooled morocco label on the front board. Full description

€ 25,000

China Drawings & Watercolours Japan & Far East Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

First edition of one of the very few travelogues on Japan from the 18th century

THUNBERG, Carl Peter. Resa uti Europa, Africa, Asia, förrättad åren 1770-1779.
Uppsala, tryckt hos directeur. Joh. Edman, 1788-1793. 4 volumes. 8vo. With 11 engraved plates (1 folding, 9 full page, and 1 in the text). Contemporary or slightly later gold-tooled quarter brown calf, with a beige morocco title label on the spine, lettered in gold, a volume number lettered in gold underneath, sprinkled paper sides, blue sprinkled edges. [26], 389, [1]; [32], 384; [14], "414" [= 402]; [36], "341" [= 339], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,250

Ceylon Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Japan & Far East Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Europe

Thunberg's renowned account of his voyage to the Cape of Good Hope and Japan

THUNBERG, Carl Peter. Travels in Europe, Africa and Asia, made between the years 1770 and 1779.
London, printer for F. and C. Rivington, and sold by W. Richardson, 1795. 4 volumes. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece, and 10 engraved plates (1 folding, 9 full page). Contemporary gold-tooled tree-marbled brown calf, with a red morocco title label on the spine, lettered in gold, a volume number lettered in gold underneath, gold-tooled board edges, blue sprinkled edges. [2], xii, 317, [3 blank], [18]; xiv, [2], 316, [15], [1 blank]; xiii, [3], 285, [1 blank], xv, [1 blank], 31, [1 blank]; xix, [1 blank], [4], 293, [1], [17], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Ceylon Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Japan & Far East Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Europe

Second editions of Titsingh's "Cérémonies" and "Mémoires et anecdotes"

TITSINGH, Isaac. Cérémonies usitées au Japon, pour les mariages, les funérailles, et les principals fêtes del'année; ... Orné de 24 gravures, faites d'après des peintures japonaises.
Paris, Nepveu (back of half-title: printed by dHautel), 1822. 3 volumes. 18mo. With 23 (of 24?) etched plates (including 3 as frontispiece, and 17 folding), all but one in contemporary hand-colouring. Late 19th-century, gold-tooled brown half morocco, gilt edges. XXX, IV, 127, [1 blank]; [4], 139, [1 blank]; [4], 206 pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Japan & Far East Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages East Asia VOC

An important source on 18th-century Japan

TITSINGH, Isaac. Bijzonderheden over Japan, behelzende een verslag van de huwelijkse plegtigheden, begrafenissen en feesten der Japanezen. De Gedenkschriften der laatste Japansche keizers en andere merkwaardigheden nopens dat Rijk.
The Hague, the widow of J. Allart, 1824-1825. 2 volumes. 8vo. With 4 hand-coloured folding aquatint plates, and a hand-coloured engraved vignette on the title page of each volume. Contemporary marbled boards. XVI, 250; [1], [1 blank], 264 pp. Full description

€ 6,900

Anthropology & Ethnography Ceremonial Festivities & Fireworks Japan & Far East

Travel album with 19th-century East and Southeast Asian drawings, paintings, and prints

[TRAVEL ALBUM - CHINA - INDIA - JAPAN]. [Travel album containing Chinese, Japanese, and Indian artworks].
[Asia, ca. 1890]. Oblong album (ca. 20.5 x 26 cm). With 16 gouache paintings on pith paper framed by silk ribbons, 4 partly coloured woodcut illustrations, and 11 prints and drawings of India. Early or mid-19th-century gold- and blind-stamped beige calf, with a gold-stamped single fillet frame on the diamond-patterned boards, floral blind-stamping and the words "scrap book" lettered in gold on the spine. [1 blank], [31], [38 blank] ll. Full description

€ 4,500

China Drawings & Watercolours India & Sri Lanka Japan & Far East

Japanese woodblock geography of the Middle and Near East and Indonesia, with 5 maps and 35 views

UCHIDA Masao. Yochi shiryaku [Compendium of world geography].
[Tokyo], Meiji 4 [= 1871]. (25.5 x 17 cm). With the title and all text in Japanese, printed from woodblocks on rice paper, with 1 double-page, 2 full-page and 2 half-page maps and 12 full-page and 23 half-page illustrations of architecture, people and costumes, topography, plants and animals. Original publisher's heavy paper wrapper. [1 blank], 59, [1] ll. Full description