Browse Items (196 total)

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This early version of the coffee-table book provides interesting insights into assumptions about Italian life, with its lively images of landmarks, religious processions, and peasant life. Given the French title and lack of publishing information, it…

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Revised ed.

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James Young (1862-1934) was Curator of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens from 1908-1933, having trained in England and worked in Victoria, Australia. As an expert on roses—the Christchurch Botanic Gardens rosery was probably the largest in…

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This book documents the Roman monuments of Baalbek in present-day Lebanon. It was a result of Robert Wood and James Dawkins' 1750-53 trip to Asia Minor. Wood was a member of the Society of the Dilettanti These volumes exhibited mark the beginning of…

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Dedicated to the King, this volume displays a reasonably early interest in natural history. Indeed, because Dr. Spon had published his account in French a decade earlier, and because an English bookseller had brought out a translation, Wheler had to…

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These two maps show how little was known about Antarctica as late as 1825. Weddell managed to sail just over 200 miles farther south than Cook before fleeing the impending winter, and his record was not bettered until 1911. His book was revised and…

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This book first appeared in 1825, though this edition, with its handsome binding, was printed much later, probably in 1894. Although Waterton's style is clearly dated and, to our ears, rather pompous, his work has been often reprinted even in the…

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"The Wall is full six Fathom high, and four thick, so that six Horsemen may easily ride a-breast on it, and was in as good Repair as if it had not been erected above twenty or thirty Years since; no Part of it being fallen, nor annoyed by the least…

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This detail shows "two of the vessels made use of by the Chinese. The first of these marked (A), is a junk of about a hundred and twenty tons burthen, and was what the Centurion hove down by; these are most in the great rivers, though they sometimes…

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"The Society of Jesus was founded in 1539 by St Ignatius of Loyola. From their base at Goa, India, the Jesuits ventured forth to Japan and China: their goal to spread Christianity and promote the work of the Society. Over the years, their written…

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The Magistrates of the Town hearing of my Letter, received me as a Publick Minister, they provided me with Carriages and Servants, and bore my Charges to Yedo [Tokyo], where I was admitted to an Audience, and delivered my Letter, which was opened…

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"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).

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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,…

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"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…

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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…

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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…

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"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…

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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…
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