Asian History

Paris: Louis-Michaud. Very Good. 1923. First Edition. Hardcover. Volume #1 only. History of a Mission in Beijing. Clean blue cloth has gilt title on spine. Text tight, clean & intact. Original soft cover volume is bound in hard cover. Page edges are lightly age toned. Some uncut pages. B/W illustrations. Volume #2 privately published in 1926, Vincentian to the Boxer Rebellion. Vol. #1, dealing with the origins to the suppression of the Society of Jesus and the arrival of the Vincentians, (1773-1785) . French text. China; B/W Illustrations.; 4to 11" - 13" tall; 461 pages .

694p, [38].23cm, Photo plates, tables etc. In Japanese. Good+, bind tight, a little wear. Very rare, NO Worldcat/OCLC record, printed: "Not-for-selling" on copyright page. Involving hospital, plagues, disaster etc. (WITH PICTURES)

1865 1ed Social Life of Chinese CHINA Opium Drinking Games Missionary DoolittleJustus Doolittle was an American missionary to China who is most famous for his book 'Social Life of the Chinese', a valuable work focused on Chinese life and social customs. According to J.L. Scott, "Doolittle exhaustively explored practices and events in Fuzhou, Fujian, where he was a missionary for 14 years. Few aspects of everyday life escaped his attention. Doolittle is especially strong when describing domestic religious practices and public holidays and ceremonies."Doolittle was also focused on curing the problem of opium addiction with Jesus. Doolittle himself explained,"The vice of opium smoking has long since become a giant obstacle to the welfare and the prosperity of this people. The consumption of opium is rapidly on the increase in this city as well as in other parts of the empire, and its ravages are becoming more awful. The nation is becoming poorer and poorer." (Baumler, p.49)In addition to opium addiction,… Read More

Paris, France: Librairie Universelle, 1905. Book. Fine-. Half-Leather. Possible First Edition. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. Half-leather hardcover with marbled boards and endpapers; top edge gilt; no jacket; ribbon marker; text in French; color and b&w illustrations. No date but a previous owner has penciled 1905 on copyright page. Fine minus condition..

1721 Japanese Samurai Sword Katana Arami Meizukushi Illustrated New Blades RARE

An interesting Edo and Meiji woodblock-print of 'New Blades.' This collection is the stamping of amateur warriors' blades and polishers throughout the Edo period and is equivalent to the sword of the Meiji era and later called "modern sword.". It follows up on the older collections of blade writings which summarized the accumulated knowledge of amateur warriors' blades and polishers throughout the Muromachi period. After the battle of Sekigahara in Keicho 4 (AD 1599), the Tokugawa shogunate opened and war ended, demand and production methods for swords changed, and later works came to be called "new swords." This 'New Blades' book includes information on large and small swords, knives, tools for forgings, polishing, and repairing, as well as stamps of sword makers and the illustrious line patterns between the edge and spine called the Hamon.
This rare 1721 edition is written in a column handwritten format with furigana… Read More

Beautés de l'histoire de Turquie comprenant les faits les plus remarquables de l'histoire musulmane, depuis Mahomet, les califes, ses successeurs, et les souverains de l'empire Ottoman jusqu'à nos jours.
By: J. R. Durdent (Beauties of the history of Turkey, including the most remarkable facts of Muslim history since Muhammad, caliphs, successors, and rulers of the Ottoman Empire to the present day).
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In the French language.
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2nd Edition. Paris, Alexis Eymery education library, 1818.
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Pp. 467 + 6 l. with 6 engravings.
Size: 17 x 10 cm.
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Provenance: Stamped signature of the editor. Stamped ex libris of the library of Joca Vujic, one of the greatest Serbian collectors.
Binding: Original full leather binding, the surface of cover little worn and damaged, top right side of spine partly separated from cover, bumped edges. Condition: Signs of paper aging, last blank fly leaf missing.DHL shipping included. If you have any additional questions, we are eager to answer them.

London: Grolier Society 1906, 1907, Baroda edition. (Hardcover set) Good. Marbled boards over 3 / 4 black leather with gilt decorated spines. Marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, color frontispieces with tissue-guards, illustrations throughout, index. Some boards scuffed, worn at the spines with some damage. Internally clean and bright. Vol. 1 Romesh Chunder Dutt (From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century, B.C.). Vol. 2 Vincent A. Smith (From the Sixth Century, B.C. To the Mohammedan Conquest, Including the Invasion of Alexander the Great). Vol. 3 Lane-Poole, Stanley (Medieval India from the Mohammedan Conquest to the Reign of Alexander the Great). Vol. 4 Stanley Lane-Poole (Medieval India from the Mohammedan Conquest to the Reign of Alexander the Great). Vol. 5 Henry Miers Elliot (The Mohammedan Period As Described by its Own Historians). Vol. 6 William Wilson Hunter (From the First European Settlements to the Founding of the English East India Company). Vol. 7 William Wilson Hunter (From the… Read More

1877 Japanese Woodblock Samurai History Nihon Gaishi Tokugawa Shogunate 22v RARE

An interesting Edo woodblock-print of 'Nihon Gaishi,' a 19th-century book on the history of Japan by Rai San'yo, a confucianist philosopher, historian, and poet of the Edo era. This edition was edited by Jiro Yorimata, the original author's second son The whole work of 'Nihon Gaishi' was the first comprehensive study of samurai history, covering Japanese history, from the emergence of the Minamoto clan and the Genpei War, through to the reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu in the Edo era. His history was later banned in several provinces because it encouraged strengthening the authority of the emperor and was a major influence on the Sonnō jōi movement, a movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period. It became part of the private studies of Chinese people in meiji Japan and in their curricula became one of the most read history books from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era. (Mehl)
This rare… Read More

1859 Japanese Samurai Lord Toyotomi Hideyoshi Tokugawa Osaka Castle Illustrated

A rare, 19th century Japanese woodblock print of "Taikouki". Taikouki is a biography describing the life of Taihe Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a Japanese samurai and daimyo (lord) considered the second "Great Unifier" of Japan following Nobunaga and preceding the Tokugawa Shogunate. Hideyoshi left a legacy including Osaka Castle, the Tokugawa class systems, the restriction of weapons, and the construction and restoration of many temples some of which are still visible in Kyoto. This book is a classic Edo era picture book describing and illustrating Toyotomi Hideyoshi's life illustrated by Utagawa Kuniyoshi! The woodblock prints began being made in 1855 and were completed in 1884. The images and text focus primarily on the military with detailed accuracy on armor, weapons, family crests, interiors, and more!
This rare biography
is written in a column handwritten format with furigana for easier reading and includes illustrations of… Read More

1852 History of CHINA & INDIA Sears Hindu Chinese Superstitions MAPS Turks
Robert Sears' "Pictorial History of China and India" is a mid-19th-century account of China and India, focusing on geography, politics, and topography. Sears gives a thorough description of Chinese monarchies, the foundation of the Han Dynasty, important contributions and inventions (such as paper), costumes, superstitions, and the rise of the Moguls, the Ming Dynasty, and opium trafficking.
The second half of the work, dedicated to the history of India, gives details on the Hindu religion, Turkish and Mogul conquests in India, Sikh wars, and the rise of the British government in India. It should be noted that this work is abundantly illustrated with over 200 engravings as well as two folding maps.
Item number: #17811
Price: $499
SEARS, Robert
Pictorial history of China and India; comprising a description of those countries and their inhabitants from the earliest period of authentic record, to the present time.
New York: R.… Read More

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1884. First Edition. First English book on Oriental rugs. Octavo, 11 lithographic plates including frontispiece, one in colour, folding map, four pages of publishers' advertisements; bound in olive green cloth, gilt-decorated pictorial boards with black lettering, an excellent copy of the first edition.

No Dust JacketBook ConditionFlaw: Gift dedication inscription in red sharpie on last free endpaper (photo). The remainder of this 15-year-old book is "Near New" condition. This massive and beautifully bound presentation style book has been spared no expense in its construction, with every publisher's attention paid to fine detailing. Richly illustrated throughout with B&W and color photos, many never before published. Bi-lingual, Chinese, and English. For anyone looking for a unique gift for a railroad history buff, or those interested in 20th-century Chinese architecture, this is a rare purchase opportunity. Additional descriptions and photos are available on request.From the Preface: "Architecture seems like a history book of wood ad stones. The development of modern architecture in North Chine was indispensable with a railway, that is, the Railway of Chinese Eastern Provinces." "They started operation in 1903.""With a history of over half a century, the CER had played a pivotal role in Chinese… Read More

1876 CHINA Social Life of Chinese Doolittle Fuzhou Fujian Fuhchau Opium 2in1
A scarce 19th-century printing of Justus Doolittle's 'Social Life of the Chinese.' Fourteen years a missionary, author Justus Doolittle presents an exhaustive exploration of Chinese culture and customs. Contents include his missionary endeavors, agricultural and domestic matters, marriage, parenting, local superstition, Chinese traditional medicine, opium dens, wine clubs, death and burial rites, ancestral worship, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, government structure and practices, literature, calligraphy, festivals, business practices and much more!
Item number: #40267
Price: $499
DOOLITTLE, Justus
Social Life of the Chinese: with some account of their religious, governmental, educational, and business customs and opinions. With special but not exclusive reference to Fuhchau.
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1876.

Details:
· Collation: Complete; 2 volumes in 1
o
Vol. I – xxxiv, [17]-459, [1]
o
Vol. II – [2],… Read More

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1948. Revised edition. Hard cover in original cloth. Published London: George Allen & Unwin, 1948. 8vo., xxi+380pp., numerous plate illustrations, color fold-out map at rear. Red cloth with gilt titles. Mild age toning to some sheets, else fine, crisp. . Hard. Near Fine/No Jacket. 8vo.

London: J. Coxhead, 1814. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. Two volumes in original bindings, leather at spine and corners and marbled boards. viii, 280 pp, 345 pp. Bindings in quite good shape, with hinges uncracked or lightly started if at all. Light wear to board edges, with corners lightly worn through in places. Water stain to fore-edge of many pages of Volume 2, largely in the margin, and not preventing pages from opening or turning. Texts free of noted marks. Bookplates of Henry Howard of Greystoke, who lived in an honest to God castle, to front pastedown of both volumes. The work is comprised mostly of letters from the author to Voltaire, and responses from the latter, on the subject of Atlantis and its geographic location, arguing from the dissemination of astrological lore, mythology, religion, and language. The author argues that Atlantis was located not in its classically supposed position in the Atlantic Ocean but in the Arctic, covered… Read More