Complete set of 20 original albumen photographs (image sizes: 170 x 250 mm. & 230 x 190 mm.) by Charles David Winter mounted on card boards (440 x 350 mm.). Folio, orig. portfolio with large printed title pasted on upper cover (cloth spine a little worn, some rubbing to boards), orig. cloth ties. Strasbourg: Winter Fassoli, 1870.

A fine set of this extremely rare portfolio of 20 albumen photographs by the Strasbourg photographer Charles David Winter (1821-1904). These photographs reveal the devastation that took place during the siege of Strasbourg in August and September 1870 by Germany in the Franco-Prussian War. This siege was the first example of “total... More

Six folding engraved plates. Title in red & black. 1 p.l., 308 pp. 8vo, cont. mottled sheep, flat spine nicely gilt, contrasting leather lettering piece on spine. Lausanne & Geneva: M.M. Bousquet, 1744.

First edition of this important book in which Cheseaux (1718-51), grandson of Crouzas and a fellow the Royal Society of London, first stated what was to become known as “the paradox of Cheseaux”: “With an infinite and uniform distribution of stars throughout space, the night sky should shine with a brightness corresponding to their average surface brightness.” A number of notable astronomers have struggled with this problem, including Halley, Olbers... More

Many full-page woodcuts. 32 parts in 30 vols.; 11 parts in 8 vols.; 4 parts in 2 vols. Total: 40 vols. (complete). Large 8vo, orig. blue wrappers (some wear & rubbing, occasional worming to covers), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (some defective or worn away), new stitching. [Japan]: Prefaces dated 1624.

First edition, complete with the additional 11 parts of the illustrations and four parts of Addenda. Zhang (1563-1640), a native of Shaoxing, was a physician during the Ming dynasty and the “author of a famous set of commentaries [the present work] on the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic.”-Yi-Li Wu, “The Gendered Medical Iconography of the Golden Mirror…”... More

Many woodcuts & diagrams in the text. 27 vols., including one vol. of Preface, bibliography, & index; three vols. of the Nanjin & Shou Wa’s commentary; three vols. of illus. & remarks on the illus.; & 20 vols. of Morimoto’s commentary. Large 8vo, orig. semi-stiff wrappers (some rubbing & wear, occasional worming), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (some missing or worn), new stitching. [Japan]: Preface dated 1678; [according to the Union Catalogue of Early Japanese Books, publication date is 1695, but on what basis, we do not know].

First edition of this rare (not in WorldCat) and extensive commentary on the Nanjin (Classic of Difficult Issues... More

38 fine color paintings of costumes and their elements. Scroll (280 x 4170 mm.), consisting of five joined sheets, gold-flecked endpapers. [Japan]: ca. 1800.

A very finely painted scroll with 38 images of ornate costumes and their elements for falconry hunts. The artist has used extremely delicate and fine brushstrokes to depict all the complex elements of each of the fabrics, which are, for the most part, elaborate brocades. Intended for aristocrats and their entourage, mounted and on foot, the costumes are richly ornate, with ample use of fur on scabbards, chaps, and footwear. The artist has skillfully revealed not only the richness of... More

Engraved frontis., engraved vignette on title, & four double-page folding engraved plates. 4 p.l., 80 pp., [12] pp. 4to, cont. half-sheep & speckled boards (corners a bit worn), uncut, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece. Amsterdam: “by G. Warnars, en P. den Hengst,” 1772.

[bound with]:

[—]. Historie van den Nieuwen Amsterdamschen Schouwburg. Engraved vignette on title & five double-page folding engraved plates. 3 p.l., 56 pp. 4to. Amsterdam: “by G. Warnars, en P. den Hengst,” 1775. More

31 finely hand-colored mounted drawings with eight fine black & white brush drawings on slips also pasted on. 36 folding leaves of which 20 are text. 8vo (253 x 180 mm.), orig. patterned wrappers, manuscript title label on upper cover, new stitching. [Japan: late Edo].

Gento Yoshiwara (d. 1800), was one of the three most important orthopedic specialists in Japan during the final years of the 18th century, along with Bunken Kagami and Genka Ninomiya. Yoshiwara studied both Dutch medicine in Nagasaki and Chinese medicine, being greatly influenced by the Chinese Dao yin treatment of massage and exercise. Unlike the works of Kagami and Ninomiya, Yoshiwara’s... More

24 illus., including 13 figures of women with various applications of cosmetics, and a number of hairpieces & extensions, etc. 44; 15 folding leaves. Two parts in one vol. 8vo (273 x 193 mm.), later patterned wrappers, new stitching. [Japan: mid-Edo].

A fascinating manuscript, written throughout in one hand, concerning two seemingly unrelated subjects. The first part, of 44 leaves, is dedicated to waka kanjo, the initiation rituals performed to transmit knowledge regarding literary texts such as waka poetry, the early native poetry of Japan. Derived from esoteric Buddhist ceremonies created to transmit doctrines, waka kanjo began to occur in the late Kamakura period. “At these waka... More

One double-page & nine full-page illus. in the text. 90 folding leaves. Large 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers, modern stitching. Osaka: 1803.

First edition of one of the best and most influential recipe books of its period, written for wealthy homes. The author follows the cooking philosophy of Yuan Kitamura, who invented or codified many recipes in the early 18th century. A series of the recipes are still used today: using dashi to make broth, and how to make many kinds of soy sauce, vinegar, and miso. Sugino discusses when to use which kind of soy sauce or vinegar or miso for different preparations... More

One double-page & 23 full-page woodcut illus. 33 leaves. 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers (wrappers a little soiled), block-printed title label on upper cover (label a little defective & soiled). Kyoto: Tawaraya Riemon et al., 1859.

First edition and very rare; WorldCat lists no copies. This was one of the standard textbooks on sericulture of the period, published at a time when Japan was just beginning to trade with the rest of the world (the port of Yokohama opened in the same year as the publication of our book). Both raw silk and finished fabrics quickly became extremely important exports.

The beginning of the book gives a history of sericulture in Japan from the second century B.C., when Chinese techniques were imported. The text describes all the steps of sericulture from growing mulberry trees to the finished silk product. The fine woodcuts vividly depict many of the processes. The first woodcut is double-page and depicts an elaborate ritual depicting the Emperor giving silkworm cocoons to his subjects. The remainder of the woodcuts, all full-page, depict the steps in sericulture: incubation and rearing of worms, cocoons, selection of eggs for reproduction, techniques of keeping rooms warm enough to enhance hatching, the mulberry tree and its cultivation, feeding the silkworms with mulberry leaves, tools, making the silk, etc., etc. More

Ten rather fine hand-colored illus. of Western distillation equipment & furnaces. 35; 55 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo (237 x 170 mm.), orig. blue wrappers (wrappers slightly discolored & rubbed), new stitching. [Japan: late Edo].

We learn from the first leaf of this manuscript that the editor of this collection of Dutch pharmaceutical recipes was Tanemichi (or Kosai) Yoshio (1787-1866), nephew of the physician Kogyu Yoshio, who had studied Dutch medicine. Tanemichi was born in Nagasaki and joined the family business; he was a doctor in his home city and became a disciple of Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (1796-1866), the famous natural historian who became... More

Many finely painted images of plants & flowers. Scroll (365 x 2850 mm.), with six joined sheets of paper, gold-speckled endpapers. [Japan: late Edo or early Meiji].

A very finely painted scroll, in rich colors utilizing some pigments with metallic elements or with a thickening agent to give a three-dimensional effect, of a medley of plants and flowers, symbolizing the seasons. There are images of cherry blossoms, violets, dandelions, Chinese milkvetch, fiddle ferns, morning glories, sweet William, passionfruit flowers, bush clover, Chinese silvergrass, kuzu flowers, coxcomb, Chinese bellflower, quince, etc.

The anonymous artist was extremely accomplished, and the transition of plants from season to season is extremely subtlety done. More