Asia
Under the direction of our dedicated specialist, our Asia Department is continually expanding the field of material available to collectors interested in the history and culture of this fascinating region. This category includes works in all major collecting areas, including literature and poetry, art, travel, politics, economics, and more, with material in both English and Asian languages.
CHINESE IMPERIAL EXAMINATIONS. Handkerchief used by a candidate to cheat.[China : c.1850]
An artefact of China's gruelling official examination system, in which millions of candidates sat philosophical papers, the very best securing lucrative official positions, fame, and social status. Here, a candidate has transcribed in miniscule characters an essay on the writings of Mencius, ready to smuggle it into his secluded examination...Learn More
JAPANESE GRAPHIC DESIGN. Collection of Japanese matchbox labels.Tokyo : 1920-34
A vibrant collection, containing pre-war matchbox labels produced by the Rinshikin Shukai, Japan's first society for matchbox collectors. The boldly coloured designs show kabuki actors, geisha, Buddhist deities, baseball players, famous ukiyo-e prints, vistas of capital cities, and even wartime propaganda.
Matchbox labels became popular in...Learn More
MAO, Zedong. Cultural Revolution-era mirror with Mao quotation.Beijing : [c.1966-1976]
An example of the Mao cult's everyday manifestations, the quotation reading, "It is necessary to master Marxist theory and apply it. The purpose of mastering it is to apply it." This mirror was produced by the Beijing Seven-One Mirror Factory, its name (a Cultural Revolution adoption) referencing the Chinese Communist Party's founding on 1 July...Learn More
WRIGHT, Frank Lloyd. The Japanese Print: An Interpretation.Chicago : 1912
First edition of Wright's eloquent essay on the aesthetic principles of Japanese woodblock prints. Drawing on his deep engagement with Japanese art as a collector, Wright examines the structural geometry, abstraction of nature, and disciplined simplicity of the woodblock print - ideas that influenced his architectural philosophy.Learn More
HONG KONG. Geology of Sha Tin; [together with] Geology of Sai Kung and Clear Water Bay.Hong Kong : 1986 & 1990
First editions of these detailed reports, each designed to accompany sheets in the Geological Map Series of Hong Kong.Learn More
CLAVELL, James. Shogun.New York : 1975
First edition of the best-selling historical novel, which has "probably conveyed more information about Japan to more people than all the combined writings of scholars, journalists, and novelists since the Pacific War" (Smith, p. xii). It inspired the miniseries of 1980 and 2024 and the musical of 1990.
The story is based on the life of...Learn More
MAO, Zedong. Cultural Revolution-era mirror with Mao quotation.China : [c.1966-1976]
An example of the Mao cult's everyday manifestations, the quotation reading, "be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory." The phrase is from one of Mao's most famous articles, "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains." During the Cultural Revolution, the essay was mandatory reading for hundreds of millions...Learn More
MAO, Zedong. Two porcelain mugs from the Cultural Revolution.Jingdezhen : [c.1966-76]
Emblematic of the Cultural Revolution's cult of Mao, these mugs are decorated with four volumes representing his hallowed Selected Works, the volumes radiating light. The text on the mug reads, "Mao Zedong Thought radiates golden light", and the lid proclaims, "Long live the great Mao Zedong Thought."
For Mao, making revolution meant more...Learn More
MAO, Zedong. Rubber bust from the Cultural Revolution.Beijing : 1968
A piece of political portraiture, produced at the Mao cult's apotheosis, to celebrate his 15 August 1968 audience with exemplary revolutionaries in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
By 1968, the Cultural Revolution had produced a hyper-politicized society framed around the imparting of significance to Mao's every word and deed. Audiences...Learn More
MAO, Zedong. Collection of Cultural Revolution chinaware celebrating National Day.[China, perhaps Beijing : c.1966-76]
Politics comes to the kitchen and living room: a selection of chinaware, each piece adorned with balloons, streamers, and a red vignette of Tiananmen flanked by red flags. During the Cultural Revolution, when such pieces became de rigueur in homes and workplaces, National Day was marked with a huge parade down Beijing's Chang'an Avenue and...Learn More
CHINA. Album of photographs compiled by W. J. Jordan, a petty officer cook serving on the China station with HMS Dorsetshire.China : 1930s
A well-preserved collection, divided into sections concerning naval life in Weihaiwei and other ports and the Sino-Japanese hostilities. The lead in its class, HMS Dorsetshire was launched in 1929 and, following refitting, served on the China station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1936 until the general outbreak of war in 1939.
The...Learn More
YOSHIDA, Hiroshi - FLEISHER, Benjamin W. (ed.). Enthronement of the One Hundred Twenty-Fourth Emperor of Japan.Tokyo : 1928
First edition, published to commemorate the coronation of Emperor Hirohito. It contains a vivid original colour woodblock print of Himeji Castle by Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950), an internationally renowned artist and one of the leading figures of the shin-hanga movement. The text explains the historical and religious meaning behind the various...Learn More
US NAVY ASIATIC STATION - CALDWELL, Harold Marcko. An album recording his service on the Asiatic Pacific Station.Various locations : 1925-27
An impressive album and collection of loose photographs recording the voyages of USS West Virginia and USS Beaver. The photographs, many taken by a fellow sailor, feature US ships underway, the recovery of a seaplane, and Pacific islands. A number show China in the warlord period of the mid 1920s, documenting the gruesome public executions of...Learn More
SUDO, Nansui. Ippin issho: Shinso no kajin. = The Ladies of New Style.Tokyo : 1887
First edition in book form of this novel depicting Tokyo's prosperous future, written by an ardent political reformer. Its protagonist is a milkmaid who reads Herbert Spencer, discusses women's rights, and champions dietary reform. Notable events in the story include a contested election, a dynamite explosion, and a secret love affair in a faulty...Learn More
GERMAN FORCES IN CHINA. Albums chronicling the military acquisition of Kiautschou Bay and the activities of the East Asia Squadron.China, Japan, and at sea : 1898-99; 1911-13
An important visual record of Germany's empire-building in China and naval life in East Asia before the First World War, including early views of Qingdao. It was assembled by Hermann Mörsberger, a future rear-admiral, who served at Kiautschou Bay during the 1897-8 crisis and commanded the East Asia Squadron's SMS Nürnberg between 1911 and...Learn More
HAWAI'I. The Crossroads of the Pacific.[Honolulu] : [c.1906]
Early edition, perhaps the first, of this hemispherical map of the Pacific Ocean, centred on Hawai'i and encompassing Australia, the Chinese seaboard, and the Americas. Radiating lines shows the distance from Honolulu to major cities in nautical miles.
The map was issued by the Hawaii Promotion Committee, an organization formed in 1903 by...Learn More
DOTY, Elihu. Anglo-Chinese Manual with Romanized Colloquial in the Amoy Dialect.Canton : 1853
First edition of this reference for foreign traders and officials, this copy used in house at the British firm Tait and Co., which was established in Amoy (Xiamen) in 1846 and exported tea and other commodities.
Divided into thematic sections, the manual gives words and phrases in English, Chinese, and the romanized colloquial. In its...Learn More
CONFUCIANISM - COLLIE, David (trans.). The Chinese Classical Work Commonly Called the Four Books; Translated, and Illustrated with Notes.Malacca : 1828
First edition of this important step in the transmission of Confucianism to the West. Collie's translation, approaching the Four Books from a Christian perspective, was the successor to Joshua Marshman's The Works of Confucius (1809), the scope of which had been limited to just the first ten chapters of the Analects.
Collie (d. 1828) was a...Learn More
HOFFMAN, Johann Joseph. Shopping Dialogues, in Japanese, Dutch, and English. = Winkelgesprekken in het Hollandsch, Engelsch en Japansch.London : 1861
First edition, compiled by one of von Siebold's proteges. Hoffman commissioned a new set of Chinese character types for its production and utilized Karl Lepsius's newly developed standard for transcribing foreign orthography into the Latin alphabet.
Johann Joseph Hoffman (1805-1878) was one of the foremost academics that established the...Learn More
JAPANESE ADVERTISEMENTS. An album of early 20th century matchbox labels.[Nagoya : early 20th century]
A collection of colourful and expressive advertisements for a wide range of businesses across Japan, from sweet shops to cafes, cigarette manufacturers, restaurants, and pharmacists. The majority are for businesses in Nagoya, in particular a branch of the famous confectionary chain Fujiya, the company that introduced the Christmas cake to Japan in...Learn More
