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China, Korea & Mongolia
ASIA, Russian expansion in. Stanford's Map of the Siberian Railway: The Great Land Route to China and Korea.London : 1903
First edition of this splendid cartographic visualization of Russia's threat to British and Japanese interests in Asia in the early 20th century, published half a year before the completion and opening of the railway in June 1904. For Britain, the railway menaced its commercial power in China and naval power in the Pacific. Similar Japanese...Learn More
BURMA - WWII History of the Twelfth Army from its Formation on 28th May, 1945 to the End of Operations September, 1945.[?Rangoon, : 1945]
Sole edition of the CONFIDENTIAL official report on concluding operations in Burma, covering the advance to Rangoon, Japanese retreat to Pegu Yomas, and the disastrous attempted breakout across the Sittang; with official minutes of negotiations with Gen. Ichida, and comprehensive details of the Japanese surrender. Just five institutional locations...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
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
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
CHATELAIN, Zacharias. Atlas Historique, ou Nouvelle Introduction a l'Histoire, à la Chronologie & à la Geographie Ancienne & Moderne;Amsterdam : 1714-21
A mixed-edition set, as usual, of this monumental encyclopaedia, including a well-preserved example of the large four-sheet map "Carte très curieuse de la Mer du Sud", which centres the American continent in global networks of trade and exploration stretching from China to Europe and the western coast of Africa.
Volumes of the Atlas...Learn More
BEAL, Samuel (trans.). Si-Yu-Ki. Buddhist Records of the Western World. Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D. 629).London : 1906
The attractive 1906 edition of Beal's translation of the Da Tang Xiyu Ji, an important travelogue composed by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang in the seventh century CE. This set is from the library of the Buddhist scholar Phiroz Mehta (1902-1994) and has his ownership signature in each volume.
Xuanzang's text records his 19-year journey from...Learn More
CHINESE CIVIL WAR. Collection of press photographs taken during the 1927 Northern Expedition.London : 1927
The images show a National Revolution Army artillery team during February's advance on Shanghai, General Sun Chuanfang's retreating soldiers by Jessfield Railway Bridge, and Zhejiang troops. Four photographs concern American, Dutch, and British forces, part of the international coalition deployed to protect expatriate residents and businesses in...Learn More
FORTUNE, Robert. A Journey to the Tea-Countries of China, Including Sung-Lo and the Bohea Hills;London : 1852
First edition of this account of the famous plant-hunter's expedition to China, during which he collected specimens that were rapidly brought into cultivation in Darjeeling. The title page is inscribed by the American tea merchant Richard Devens to John Hanna, the Tianjin representative of the trading company Dent & Co.
Robert Fortune...Learn More
MEADOWS, Thomas Taylor. Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China, and on the Chinese Language.London : 1847
First edition of the sinologist's first book, presenting his firsthand observations of Chinese officialdom and the written language, alongside a recommendation that Britain introduce a competitive civil service selection process akin to China's gruelling examination system. "Meadows (1819-1869) is one of the most interesting characters to have...Learn More
SOUTH MANCHURIA RAILWAY. Nanman chokanzu ("Bird's-Eye View of the South Manchuria Railway").[Perhaps Tokyo] : [c.1923]
A large and colourful tourist map of the mainline running from Jilin and Changchun to Lushun (Port Arthur), recording stations, branchlines, rivers, and the belt of mountains skirting the mainline's south side. The text on the verso provides essential information on major destinations along the route.
This map was issued during a period...Learn More
NIEMANN, J. B. Early engraved panorama of the Bund, Shanghai.Shanghai : [c.1860]
A view of colonial Shanghai a couple of decades after the port was opened to foreign trade, showing the first maritime customs house in the centre-left and the Westernized buildings of the major merchant houses.
The panorama extends as far as Wills' Bridge (opened in 1856), the first foreign-built bridge over Suzhou Creek. On the river are...Learn More
ALLGOOD, George. China War, 1860. Letters and Journal.London : 1901
First edition. During the China Expedition, the author served as a lieutenant in the 1st division of General Hope Grant's field force. The illustrations include an impressive six-panel panorama of the force's camp in Hong Kong and a large view of Dalian Bay, the staging area for the march on the Taku forts. The maps and plans incorporate his...Learn More
WORLD WAR II IN EAST ASIA. Seven reports from the Joint Army-Navy Intelligence Study (JANIS) series, all concerning health and sanitation in East Asia.Washington, DC : 1944-46
Classified material from the first significant US joint-intelligence programme, each with the lead researcher's ownership signature ("Capt. H. Kuhlenbeck") at the head of the front wrapper and all but the first identified as a "contributor's advance copy" in his hand.
Established in 1943, the JANIS programme produced comprehensive reports...Learn More
ASIA. The Missionary Advocate. [A complete run of the first five volumes, 60 numbers in total.]New York : 1845-50
A pleasing collection of this informative monthly periodical, each issue collecting missionary news and discussion from around the world, either submitted directly to the editors or reprinted from other sources. The contents reflect the Western preoccupation with China, India, and other Asia countries as a source of millions of...Learn More
POLO, Marco. Libro de las cosas maravillosas que vido en las partes orientales:Logroño : 1529
Third edition in Spanish, the earliest feasibly obtainable in that language. Of the various early versions of Marco Polo, this is of exceptional importance for the translator Rodrigo Santaella's suggestion in the introduction that the regions visited by Polo in Asia were geographically distinct from the lands newly discovered by Columbus....Learn More
HAKLUYT, Richard. The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English nation,London : 1589
First edition of Hakluyt's famous collection of exploration and travel narratives, the first English anthology of voyages and a showcase for the feats of English adventurers in the Elizabethan age. This copy is complete with the folding world map, based on Ortelius, and the six unpaginated leaves marking the first record in print of Sir Francis...Learn More
HALLIBURTON, Richard. First two bulletins of the Halliburton Trans-Pacific Chinese Junk Expedition.Shanghai : 1939
The first two newsletters, each signed by the famous explorer on the last page, of his ill-fated final expedition, during which he planned to sail a junk, the Sea Dragon, from Hong Kong to the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. These examples are complete with their mailing envelopes and the two photographic prints of the Sea...Learn More
