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- Collection: West Meets East
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A succinct account of the adventures of Mr William Adams.
William Adams (1564-1620) was the first Englishman to reach Japan, arriving on a Dutch ship at Bungo (a principality containing present day Usuki City) in May 1600. After a summons by the Emperor at Osaka, imprisonment and interrogation, he was…
Indiae orientalis ... .
Abraham Ortelius (1527-98), rightly called the 'Father of Modern Cartography', developed the idea of assembling a compendium of maps to form an atlas. The first edition of his "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" was published in 1570 and it was a great…
View in the Eastern side of the Imperial Park at Gehol.
"The Emperor having been informed that, in the course of our travels in China we had shown a strong desire of seeing every thing curious and interesting, was pleased to give directions to the first minister to shew us his park or garden at Gehol. It…
Playing at Shuttlecock with the feet.
"Near to the afflux of the Tchang-ho with the Cha-ho, river of floodgates, or imperial canal, is a splendid octagonal pagoda : it consists of nine stories, adorned with projecting eves, and it tapers with a remarkably gradual and graceful…
Boudoir and Bed-chamber of a Lady of rank.
"Less crowded with articles of furniture than the apartments of ladies of quality in England, the decorations of a bedchamber and boudoir in China are not less costly or complete - a suite of rooms being appropriated to the females of the mandarin's…
Raree-Show at Lin-Sin-Chow.
"The spectators and auditors at the raree-show in Lin-sin-choo belong to the industrious and humbler classes" (Allom, c.1842, v. I, p. 48).
Scene from the Spectacle of "The Sun and Moon".
"One of the most favourite mysteries presented by the strolling companies in the southern provinces, is "The Spectacle of the Sun and Moon" (Allom, 1842, v II, p. 28).
Japanese women, Simoda.
From the middle of the seventeenth to the beginning of the nineteenth-century, Japan, through the Tokugawa Shōgunate, was successful in rigorously enforcing a policy of seclusion. No Europeans were allowed into Japan except the Dutch who were…
Illustration from The Circle of Chalk.
"Mrs Chang: My lord, the matter is settled. since I have accepted your gifts, my daughter is yours. You may take her away at once. And you my child, you know that it is not I who send you forth from the shelter of my arms. For now you have been…
Garden of the temple at lewchew.
"About this period a mutual friendship began to exist between us; confidence took place of timidity; and now, instead of permitting only a few to visit the shore at a time, they fitted up the garden of a temple as a sort of general arsenal for us;…
Momotaro.
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…
Tongue cut sparrow.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.'
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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).…