Browse Items (63 total)
- Collection: West Meets East
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Life in the Chinese royal household [02].
A rare 1880s illustration on pith-paper of a scene in the Chinese Royal household.
A view of Fusy-yama : from a Japanese drawing.
"Towering over all in the western distance, but too often concealed by clouds, the majestic Fusi-yama reared its conical summit" (Oliphant, 1859, v. II, p. 97).
Signing of the Treaty of Teintsin.
Lawless proceedings in the Canton river, the city of Peking, joss-houses, the Roman Catholic mission, military promenades at Shanghai, the Yangtze, Chinese prostitutes, first views of Deshima and Nagasaki (Japan), the persecution of Christians,…
Cormorants Fishing
"The Chinese fishermen take out with them in the morning ten or twelve of these birds, still fasting, either in light boats, or on bamboo rafts. They make them dive one or two at a time: the cormorant seldom comes up without having taken a fish, and…
The Tea Industry in China [01].
This painting is one of a set of colorful paintings depicting the tea industry in China.
Tokohou : [the story of Prince Tokugawa the fifteenth].
In 1867, the last shōgun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, resigned and the Emperor, Mutsuhito, regained the position of actual head of government. Mutsuhito took the name Meiji ('enlightened government') to designate his reign and this became his imperial…
Settling debts at a merchants house.
A typical scene at a merchant's house during the year-end when all outstanding bills must be settled. One clerk works the abacus, another weighs the silver and a third makes entries in the ledger. Three tradesmen have arrived to present their final…
The Silk Cord Makers.
"The figures represented ... are engaged in manufacturing silk-twist by a very different mode to that adopted by Europeans. Their machinery is not horizontal, but vertical. The threads are extended round a truncated cone. The females who twist…
Life in the Chinese Royal Household [01].
A rare 1880s illustration on pith-paper of a scene in the Chinese Royal household.
Regni chinensis descriptio [front cover].
In 1611, the Flemish Jesuit missionary Nicolas Trigault reached Peking (Beijing), one year after the death of Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), the founder of the Jesuit mission in China. On his return to Rome, Trigault translated Ricci's memoirs into Latin…
The Shogun's audience.
A. Is the throne or Audience-seat of his majesty, where he shows himself to his Princes and Nobles.
B. Are the buildings in which his Majesty is housed, consisting of more than seventy dwelling-places.
C. Are the buildings in which his majesty…
B. Are the buildings in which his Majesty is housed, consisting of more than seventy dwelling-places.
C. Are the buildings in which his majesty…
Camps and trails in China [front cover].
Roy Andrews (1884-1960) was an explorer, and long-time curator and director of the American Museum of Natural History. His Asiatic Zoological Expedition of 1916-17 was written up in his "Camps and Trails in China". The pagoda on the cover is found at…
Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China [front cover].
In 1844, Evariste Régis Huc (1813-1860), a French Lazarist missionary, was ordered to explore the area surrounding the mission at Si-Wang (Hsi-wan-tse), about 200 kilometres to the northwest of Peking (Beijing). He and his companion, Joseph Gabet,…
An authentic account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China ...
In 1792, George, Lord Macartney was appointed Ambassador to the Emperor of China. His prime objective was to negotiate a treaty of commerce and friendship, and to establish a resident Ministry at the court of the Emperor at Peking (Beijing).…
The city of Yedo or Edo (now Tokyo) [detail].
Between 1630 and 1830 Japan's borders were virtually closed to western visitors. The only Europeans allowed into Japan were the Dutch. Atlas Japannensis: being remarkable addresses by way of embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces…
The most noble and famous travels of Marco Polo [title page of the first edition].
At the age of seventeen, the Venetian Marco Polo (1254-1324) travelled with his merchant father, Nicolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, to the court of Kublai Khan. Polo was away from Venice for twenty-four years. His account of his travels and of the Peking…
Textile patterns.
This book contains 64 colourful printed textile patterns produced by the Japanese artist Keika Hasegawa, who flourished c. 1893-1905. The pages are double folded in the Japanese style. Kyoka zuan is one of the important collections of textile…
China monumentis [frontispiece].
Kircher was ordained a Jesuit in 1628 in Mainz, Germany, but fled his homeland and settled in Rome in 1634 to escape the Thirty Years War. He remained in Rome most of his life researching a wide variety of disciplines, from geography and astronomy to…
The retinue of the Dutch Ambassadors in their journey to Court.
In 1691 Kaempfer (a physician) travelled with the Dutch ambassadors from Nagasaki to Yedo, seeking an audience with Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. The retinue of the Dutch Ambassadors, in their journey to court, compos'd of the following persons. 1,…
Ixos Haemorrhous - (Gmelin).
"In Mr Heine's notes we find the following in reference to this bird: 'I found this species in various places around Macao. Like nearly all the other birds, it had retired to the rocky hills, where it hopped gaily from bough to bough, or flitted…
Kotto : being Japanese curios, with sundry cobwebs [front cover].
This first edition contains a selection of Japanese legends and stories, including nine tales from old Japanese books to illustrate some strange beliefs. Hearn adds: 'They are only curios.'
Glimpses of unfamiliar Japan [front cover].
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn reinvented himself. He was known as Patrick in his native Ireland, Lafcadio in America, and Yakumo Koizumi in Japan. He wrote 11 substantial books about his adopted country. On arrival he was given useful advice: 'Do not fail…
Japan, an attempt at interpretation [front cover].
Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) is almost as Japanese as haiku. Both are an art form, an institution in Japan. Haiku is indigenous to the nation; Hearn became a Japanese citizen and married a Japanese [Setsu Koizumi], taking the name Yakumo Koizumi. His…
The serpent with eight heads.
Chirimen books are thought to have been invented in August 1885, when a Japanese fairy tale series was published by Hasegawa Takejiro (1853-1936). The books were illustrated by Sensei Eitaku. Thirty-one popular Japanese folktales were translated…
The Matsuyama Mirror.
Chirimen books are thought to have been invented in August 1885, when a Japanese fairy tale series was published by Hasegawa Takejiro (1853-1936). The books were illustrated by Sensei Eitaku. Thirty-one popular Japanese folktales were translated…