SHIMIZU, SEIFU (Illustrator) & NISHIZAWA, TEHIKO (Illustrator):
A complete set comprising ten volumes devoted to Japanese traditional children's toys. Comprises more than 420 pages with numerous coloured woodcuts of toys with printed captions in Japanese. Leaves are folded in the traditional Japanese manner. Bound in original decorated paper wrappers, paper labels on upper covers. (First six volumes in beige paper, and the remaining four in orange paper, as issued). Housed in a very delicate, custom-made box. First edition of this highly artistic and important work sometimes considered "the Bible for all serious toy amateurs". Seifu Shimizu (1851-1913) was a student of Hiroshige III and studied poetry with Kozando Sangetsu. He was the leading Meiji collector of omocha, toys handmade from common materials. In 1880 he founded the Takeuma-kai (Hobbyhorse Club) dedicated to "the merry and nostalgic enjoyment of children's toys" and in 1906 he curated the Kodomo Hakurankai (Children's Exhibition) which was the first known exhibition of Japanese folk toys in Japan. Shimizu studied and prepared himself for this work for a long time. He died during the publication, but his manuscript was found and four additional volumes (in orange-coloured wrappers) were published by Tekiho Nishizawa. The woodcuts are of very high quality and printed in bright, intense colours. Some of the prints have additional hand-applied colour, and others are highlighted with gold and silver. A wonderful copy of this important ethnographic work. Uncommon, especially complete in first edition. Hundreds of color plates, mostly single page, with a few double page as well. The pigments are very bright, and include some metallic inks. The overall colors, condition and printing of the set are very good. An excellent resource for mingei as well as the history of toys, as the images are all captioned in Japanese. It should be noted that the first six volumes were created before Shimizu Seifū's death in 1913. Nishizawa took over the publication as editor, so we have all of the Shimizu works and the first of those by Nishizawa, printed in 1917.lumes 1 through 7 of 10 published Kyoto, UnsŠdŠ, 1891-1924. A complete series of color illustrations of traditional Japanese toys, published over the course of more than 30 years. Hundreds of color plates, mostly single page, with a few double page as well. The pigments are very bright, and include some metallic inks. The overall colors, condition and printing of the set are very good. An excellent resource for mingei as well as the history of toys, as the images are all captioned in Japanese. It should be noted that the first six volumes were created before Shimizu Seifū's death in 1913. Nishizawa took over the publication as editor, so we have all of the Shimizu works and the first of those by Nishizawa, printed in 1917. Priced accordingly. The most important work of its kind, seldom found outside Japan. A very nice copy. B oston Eur 1750
SEKKA, KAMISAKA:
8vo size (24 x 16.5 cm). Complete with 27 leaves, double folded in the Japanese fashion. Comprises fifty-four coloured wood cut plates. Bound in the fukuro-toji style. Original wrappers, rubbed and soiled, title label on front cover, with some loss. First few leaves with some staining at lower margin, otherwise a very good copy.First edition of Kamisaka Sekka's first work of a series of design manuals (zuan-chõ). Towards the end of the 19th century, this kind of design book became very popular in Kyoto, centre of the leading Japanese textile design and production as well as of printing. The books themselves were made by skilled artists who made the woodblocks, and hand-printed the sheets. Kamisaka Sekka was one of Japan's leading artists and designers at this time. He became known for his courageous and visually dynamic designs. He initially worked in the traditional Rinpa style, a Japanese genre based on nature which emerged in the early 17th century, evolving in the early 20th century into the Neo-Rinpa style. A scarce, well-preserved design manual created by "the father of Japanese modern design".
WILKINS, CHARLES:
4to. Pp. iii-xx, 662 (half title is missing). With five engraved plates. Rebound in half calf, title label on spine. Library stamp on title (Biblioth. Semin. Philad. S. Caroli Borr.) and "Ex Libris Biblioth.S. Caroli Borrom." written by hand. Title page slightly chipped along margins. Partly with some light foxing, some offsetting to the text from the engraved plates. Four leaves heavily browned from inlaid loose papers with scholarly notes. Some old neat annotations in a few places. Very rare in the trade.The first English grammar of the Sanskrit language. The Devanagari types used are cut and cast by the Wilkins himself. In the Preface he explains that he began preparing the types in 1795. However, a fire destroyed all the types and it was not until 1808 that he was encouraged by the East India College to continue this work.Charles Wilkins (1749-1836), famous orientalist, who in 1770 came to India in the service of the East India Company. He was a pioneer in the study of Sanskrit and best known for publishing the first English translation of the Bhagavad Gita in 1785. This introduced Indian culture to the western world. Upon his return to England he was appointed first librarian of the India House Library (now British Library, Oriental Collections). Ref: De Sacy 2933. Thonnelier 1480. Vater p.332. See Windisch 22-23. Provenance: The Roman Catholic Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo in Philadelphia was founded in 1832. (Charles Borromeo was Latin Archbishop in Milan 1564-8). In 2016, the Seminary underwent a reconstruction and downsizing. To raise funds, the Seminary sold paintings and rare books from its library at auctions. Furthermore, we would like to add that there is a note: "Arthur Mostyn Owen September 1829" in two places (pp. 352 and 493) which makes us believe that this copy has belonged to him. Owen (1814-96) attended the East India College at Haileybury 1829-31.
SEMEDO, ÁLVARO:
Small 4to. Pp. (viii), 309, index (14). With one engraved portrait. Title within woodcut frame. Contemporary vellum, stained. New end-papers. First three leaves reinforced at inner margin. Text partly browned.First Italian edition of this informative treatise on China mainly written for the support of the Jesuit mission there. Prepared by Giambattista Giattinio and based on the first Spanish edition (Madrid in 1642). It includes some amendments as well as additional material. This Italian version is the preferred edition according to Lach & Van Kley. Álvaro Semedo (1586-1658), Portuguese Jesuit, lived and worked in China for over twenty years (1617-37). This account deals with various provinces, inhabitants, manners and customs, language, government, military art, etc. Cordier BS 24. Lust 74. Löwendahl, Sino-Western Relations, 95. Walravens (1987) 17. Streit (1929), 2182.
TABERD, JEAN-LOUIS:
Pp. (ii), xvi, vi (index), 355, (1) errata. Latin text with Chinese characters and Annamese transcription. Modern cloth, title label on spine. Old handwritten inscription on front endpaper to or from an apostolic missionary (illegible name) of Cochinchina.Very rare work intended for those studying Chinese and Annamese, not only for missionaries, but concerns about proselytism are very present. Taberd relied on the work by Father Georges d'Alary (1731-1817). Taberd, French missionary, was Vicar Apostolic of Cochinchina, and appointed Bishop of Isauropolis in 1830. With the persecutions of the Vietnamese Emperor Minh Mang in 1833, Taberd was forced to leave the country and settled in Calcutta. He published a Latin-Vietnamese dictionary in Serampore by Joshua Marshman in 1838. This work was published at the same press the following year. Serampore, a historical city in the modern-day state of West Bengal was part of Danish India between 1755 and 1845. The Mission Press was established in 1800 by the Serampore Trio, the British missionaries William Carey, William Ward and Joshua Marshman. It was the foremost press in Asia at this time and printed more than 200 000 copies of books in forty different languages between 1801-32. The important achievement of the Mission press for Chinese works was the preparation of the movable type of Chinese characters. No copies found in western institutions. Not in Cordier. Not in Löwendahl. Diehl, Early Indian Imprints, 420.
[MISSIONARY GAME].
The game consists of twelve books with four cards each. Size: 6.2 x 10.6 cm. An extra card with information about the Missionary Union and a folded sheet with instructions about the game (reinforced at folds). Each card indicates the name among whom the mission started, the location, the year and the name of the Pioneer missionary. Including four from Burma, four from India, one from Siam, one from Macao, one from Japan and one from Congo. With text in English and on the back of the card is "The Lord's Prayer" printed in Burmese characters. Some staining to thecards. "The American Baptist Missionary Union was first founded in 1814. Missionary work started among the Burmese in Rangoon and gradually extended to other tribes and nations. At this time (1885) there were fourteen stations in Burma: six in Assam, twelve among the Telugus, five among the Chinese, and four in Japan", according to the introduction. Comprises: 1. Burmese, Rangoon, Adoniram Judson 1814. 2. Karens, Tavoy, Geo D. Boardman 1828. 3. Shans, Toungoo, Moses H. Bixy 1861. 4. Ka-Chins, Bhamo (Burma), W.H, Roberts 1877. 5. Assamese, Sadiya, Nathan Brown 1836. 6. Garos, Gowalpara (Assam), I.J. Stoddard 1863. 7. Nagas, Haimoung (Assam), E.W. Clark 1876. 8. Telugus, Chicacole (Andhra Pradesh), Samuel S. Day 1836. 9. Chinese in Siam, Bangkok, William Dean 1833. 10. Chinese in China, Macao, J.L. Shuck 1836. 11. Japanese, Yokohama, Nathan Brown 1872. 12. Congo, Palaballa, Henry Craven 1878. The game is complete and housed in a specially made cloth box. Some staining but a very good copy of this fascinating game, which must be extremely rare to find complete.
LUNET DE LAJONQUIÈRE, E. / BEAU, PAUL:
Tall 8vo. Pp. (iv), 384. With one large folding coloured map, fine engraved plates with many photographic illustrations and five folding linguistic tables. Original printed wrappers with bound. Contemporary marbled boards, calf spine decorated in gilt with title label, corners rubbed, front lower hinge starting to split. Marbled endpapers. Old ownership signature on half title. Heavy water staining on front wrapper and the first leaves. A scarce comprehensive work dealing with the various ethnic groups living in the northern parts of Vietnam. Including information on Chinese and Annamese, and on the Thai, Mang, Pa-Teng (Pa Then), Meo (Miao), Lolo (Lo Lo), Muong (Mon), Keul-Lao and La-Tchi (Lachi) ethnic minorities. Along with text illustrations and photos, as well as vocabulary tables for the various groups. Enlarged from a previous work titled "Ethnographie des Territoires militaires" in 1904. Cordier BI 1786.The Taï languages are a subgroup of the Taï-Kadai language family.The collection of b/w photo postcards (14 x 9 cm) illustrate different ethnic tribes from the highlands in the northern parts of Vietnam (Tonkin). At this time Vietnam was a French protectorate with a French governor. These minority groups still live in the remote mountainous terrain cultivating rice, vegetables and some are raising animals. The people always wear traditional clothes, more or less colourful, whether at home, in the field, or in town. The clothes of one group are quite different from that of other groups. The pictures depict people of different tribes in traditional clothes including Hmong, Tay, Nung, Dzao, Yéo and Yao (Dao), from the provinces of Là Cai (5), Cao Báng (4), Son la (1), Ha Giang (1), Huyên (1) and Yén Bái (1). Rédigée sur l'ordre de M.P. Beau, Gouverneur général de l'Indo-chine française. composed by According to the Studies of Civil and Military Administrators of the Northern Provincesthe works, for various reasons, were of unequal value, but it seemed to the general superior commander of the troops that those coming from the military territories were complete enough to allow them to be coordinated into a general study that he wanted us to do. entrust.5 tableaux dépliants de dialectes et vocabulairescomparés, illustré de 44 figures dans le texte et de 20 planches hors-texte comportant 61reproductions photographiques, carte ethnographique dépliante en couleurs, reliure demibasane,dos à nerfs orné de fleurons dorés, couverture conservée.he reference work, which considerably enriches the Ethnography of military territories publishedThe reference work, which considerably enriches the Ethnography of military territories publishedin 1901. General considerations, Annamese, Chinese, Thai Group (ten ethnic groups), Man Group (elevenethnic groups), Pa-Teng, Meo, Lolo (four ethnic groups), Muong or Mon, Keu-Lao, La-Tchi, conclusion, index,tables.
