Sheet (318 x 207 mm.), one side printed entirely in Spanish, the other headed in Spanish with terms of indenture in Chinese. Probably China: 1858.

A remarkable survival. “To supplement a dwindling slave labor force on their sugar plantations, Cuban planters turned to south China’s Fujian and especially Guangdong provinces. From 1847 to 1874 they recruited 141,000 male laborers (125,000 of whom arrived in Cuba alive). Slave-like work and living conditions on plantations, with proximity to large numbers of slaves notwithstanding, Chinese coolies were not permanent or lifelong slaves” (Hu-DeHart, “From Slavery to Freedom,” p. 31). Instead, their eight-year employment... More

Three large folded sheets & two lengthy letters with their original manuscript envelopes. Japan: ca. 1822-31.

An exceptional collection of documents on two consequential early Western visits to Japan in the 1820s: the first landing of the Saracen at Uraga and the Takarajima incident. During this period, accounts of these incursions were kept top-secret as matters of Japanese national security. Pre-Commodore Perry materials, such as ours, are extremely scarce. This collection also contains well-rendered drawings of foreigners and their ships. The letters sent by government officials speak to the widespread anxiety throughout the country in the face of much more... More

24 double-page & 22 full-page finely drawn & colored paintings. 48 folding leaves. 8vo (268 x 186 mm.), orig. patterned wrappers (a little worn), later stitching. [Japan: after 1800].

Japan’s large-scale colonization of Hokkaido island (“Ezo”) began in the mid-18th century. Hata (1764-1808), a Tokugawa bakufu official who served in Hokkaido from 1798 to 1800, wrote a self-illustrated text concerning the ethnology of the Ainu, the aboriginal inhabitants of the island; it is the earliest work on the ethnology of these people. A copy of his manuscript was prepared ca. 1800 with 15 woodblock illustrations in orihon format, and the... More

18 fine paintings of the extraction of the ore, smelting, and the administrative & commercial activities associated with the mine. Scroll on paper (311 x 12,170 mm.), inner front endpaper with decorative square-cut gold applications, outer side with silk brocade covering, wooden core roller, backed with mica-embossed paper. [Japan]: “copied 1892.”

An uncommonly well-illustrated scroll depicting the mining and refining activities of the Ikuno silver mine, depicting the technology of mining used in the late 18th century.

Silver was mined at the Ikuno Ginzan (Ikuno Silver Mine) from the 9th century until the late 20th century and was an important... More

Osaka: 1868.

The Osada Sakubei merchant family in Osaka, one of the wealthiest of that great business city, was founded in 1626. Initially rice brokers, they soon expanded into the very lucrative business of providing loans to powerful feudal lords (daimyō). With the establishment of the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and the abolition of the domain system, the traditional function of Japanese merchant banks was transformed, and the Osada Sakubei, unable to adapt by finding other clients, went bankrupt in 1874, due to the high number of unpaid debts from the feudal domains.

As their business collapsed, the family’s first... More

Manuscript on paper. Eight fine brush & color-wash full-page illus. & nine smaller illus. in the text. 35 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. semi-stiff wrappers with the orig. title-slip, orig. stitching. [Japan]: 1853.

A manuscript copy of a rare work, never published, on the Russian expedition, led by Vice-Admiral Evfimi Vasilevich Putiatin (1803-83), to Japan in 1853. We find no copy of a work with this title in WorldCat, and only two copies in Japan.

The paintings of individual members of the Russian delegation are uncommonly finely rendered with very skillful gradations of color and tone.

Around the same... More

Yamagata Prefecture: 1819-68.

Ushu province (today’s Yamagata Prefecture) has a long tradition of making sake. The region has abundant fresh water, and the climate is well-suited for growing sake rice. This archive of 22 manuscript reports was produced for local tax collectors by two sake manufacturers in Higashine village, Murayama, Ushu province: Genshirō 源四郎 (20 reports) and Hachizaemon 八左衛門 (two reports). Neither is in business today.

Sake was a heavily regulated industry in Edo Japan and a major source of tax revenue. The shogunate also controlled production levels in order to conserve rice in times of shortage and to regulate... More

Numerous full-page woodcut illus. in the text. 18 parts in nine vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. block-printed title-slips, new stitching (some loose). [From colophon]: Osaka: Kawachi Mohachi et al. & Edo: Yamazaki Kinbei, 1771.

First edition to be printed in Japan, in Chinese with Japanese reading marks, of “China’s greatest technological classic”–Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. 4, Part II, p. 171. This book first appeared in print in China in 1637, and copies soon reached Japan. The Japanese editor was Eda Masuhide 江田益英.

The book is divided into the following sections:

1. agriculture, irrigation, and hydraulic engineering;

2... More

Manuscript on pre-printed paper. Three manuscript maps (one on six pages, another on two pages, and one on a single page) & six full-page paintings, all finely colored. 78 folding leaves with pre-printed borders. 8vo (276 x 194 mm.), orig. wrappers (some repairs), new stitching. [Japan]: late Edo.

An attractive and fascinating manuscript of a text that apparently remains unpublished. It is beautifully illustrated with a series of paintings using brush, ink, and color washes, along with ample gold pigment, executed by a very accomplished artist.

This anonymous Japanese work is a serious study of China, its history, geography, customs... More

Two formats (190 x 152 mm. & 150 x 365 mm.). [Oguni machi, Kotamagawa 小国町小玉川]: 1865-67.

This archive describes the manufacture and regulation of yamajio mountain salt in the town of Oguni machi, on the Tama River in the mountainous area of Yamagata Prefecture, north of Niigata. The onsen springs of the town are rich in minerals and were used to manufacture salt for local and regional inhabitants. Today, there are very few producers of mountain salt, due to the laborious process, but it is highly valued by connoisseurs of salt for its delicate taste.

Our archive consists of:

1... More