Asian History

London: John Murray, 1818:. First edition, 8 plates including 6 coloured, 5 engraved maps mainly folding, worn cloth, loose leaves at front. Marvellous account of expedition to little known East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Visits were made to Korea and the Ryukyu Archipelago and this book is usually priced at £2-3000 .

London: J. Cross, 1833. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good. A monument erected at St. Johns Church, Calcutta reads, "To the memory of JOHN ADAM, eldest son of the right honorable, William Adam, Lord Chief Commissioner of the jury court in Scotland. He arrived in Bengal in 1796 and passed through the highest offices in the civil service of the East India Company. Placed in the supreme council in 1819, he was again appointed to that station when the usual term of holding it had expired. From January to August 1823 he acted as Governor-General of India. Bad health compelled him to embark for England in March 1825. But he died on the 4th of June in the 47th year of his age, and his remains were committed to the ocean." This copy of John Adam's memoir is an association copy, inscribed by John Adam's mother, Katherine Adam to the Rev. James Hill, who was one of her son's closest friends in India, and who had written the letter to her describing her son's death, which is printed… Read More

A beautiful copy preserved in the more desirable art deco jacket. Housed in custom chemise and green quarter morocco slipcase. Photographs of Peking storefronts by J.D. Zumbrun; color lithographs of shop signs by Kent Crane. Deckled edges.; 4to; xx, 227 pages .

London: Mr. Bowyer, Historic Gallery, Letter-press by T. Bensley, from Figgins's types., 1794. Hardcover. Very Good. Copperplates (29 views of India) drawn by Robert Home engraved by Hawksworth, Skelton et al. + folding Plans (3 of 4, lacks Plan of Bangalore).. Royal quarto (33.5x28.5cm) speckled leather spine gilt ruled with orange gilt spine title label. Covers of wood-grain marbled paper (edges rubbed with vellum tips showing). First leaf of Urdu script (facing titlepage), vii (inc. titlepage, dedication & Preface) +[1]p blank) +[1] leaf of Inscriptions (on monuments shown in Plate 7) + 48pp of text, with 12 leaves of Urdu script keyed to first page number of each section (versos blank) and 29 plates as called for, + folding Plan of Ootradoog, folding Plan of the Carnatic and Mysore drawn by M. Armstrong June 1792, and finally larger folding Plan showing position of Confederate Armies under Earl Cornwallis before Seringapatam in February 1792. Small repair without loss to 1 inch of this final… Read More

London.: Butterworth.. Number 77 of a limited edition of 750 copies.. 1924.. Maps including colour folding plan of City of Victoria, 18 colour plates, many in black and white, 528pp, bibliography, index, bright top edge gilt. Fore edge lightly browned, front endpapers browned, cloth very clean and bright, lettered in bright gilt, an exceptional copy in original slightly chipped dustjacket. 30.7 x 25.5cm. This remarkable book records the extraordinary collection that Hong Kong businessman Sir Paul Chater built. This volume includes descriptions and representations of the prints and maps within his collection. Paul Chater was an energetic and innovative man who though coming from disadvantage built an enviable business empire as well as involving himself with the government of Hong Kong. He served as Senior Unofficial Member of the Executive Council for 30 years ending only with his death. When Sir Paul Chater died in 1926 his collection of porcelain, prints and paintings together with Marble Hall,… Read More

1755 CHINA Travel Guide Illustrated Atlas Japan Tombs Philippines ASIA Salmon

Thomas Salmon was an English historian known for his extensive reviews, reports, and guides to European travel. He was thorough in his descriptions on various countries, particularly England and Italy. In his 'Universal Traveler', an enormous collection of travel guides, Salmon provides a report on the current situation within the country, designed for those visiting the country, as well as historical context for the illustrations.
This volume focuses on the history of China, descriptions of Japan and the Philippines, as well as other South Asian islands. Like many Salmon tomes, this example includes impressive full-page engravings of Asian worship practices, costumes, music, architecture, and even maps.

Item number: #10649
Price: $1500
SALMON, Thomas
The universal traveller: or, A compleat description of the several nations of the world
London: Printed for Richard Baldwin ..., 1755.

Details:
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Collation:… Read More

[China].: 軍事委員會政治訓練部. [Jun shi wei yuan hui zheng zhi xun lian bu].. [1926].. Chinese Kuomintang propaganda poster printed in red, issued by the Political Training Department of the Military Affairs Commission. Text in traditional Chinese. Chinese character for "one" at lower left apparently indicates more posters in this series. Small mark right edge, some light creases, very good. Sheet measures 78.6 x 26.8cm. The Double Tenth Day celebrates the Wuchang Uprising on October 10th 1911. The uprising took place in what is today the Wuchang district within Wuhan and brought about the end of the Qing Dynasty. This uprising was the first of a series of uprisings across China and by the end of 1911 there was really no doubt that the Qing Dynasty would fall. On February 12th, 1912 Empress Dowager Longyu formally abdicated the throne on behalf of Puyi. The publisher of this poster,… Read More

[南京].[Nanking].: 南京特別市農民協會.. [1928].. Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) propaganda poster stencilled in blue and red, appears to have been issued folded with 4 neat horizontal folds visible, some other minor creasing, small closed tear from margin, archival repair to lower left corner, small stain lower corner. Issued by the Peasants' Association of Nanking Special Municipality, the party emblem of KMT is centrally placed at the top of the poster with skulls and crossbones just below, calligraphic text takes up the majority of the poster with the characters for "five" and "three" highlighted, lower edge dripping blood, overall very good. Text in traditional Chinese. Sheet measures 78 x 26cm. In the final stage of the Northern Expedition, Chang Kai-shek's National Revolutionary Army (NRA) entered Jinan, the capital city of Shandong Province in April 1928. The two characters "five" and "three" so graphically depicted on this poster… Read More

Bruxelles: Librairie historique-artistique, 1843. First edition. 4 large in-8 volumes, (270 mm x 170 mm). Midnight blue half-sheepskin binding, embossed percaline covers, spines have gilt titles and decoration. Illustrated with hand coloured / hand finished engraved plates. These were created by the leading illustrators of the time, including Duverger, L. Markaert, R. King. The bindings are in very good condition, with a little rubbing to the edges only. Inside, the text and plates have light foxing throughout, but are overall in very good condition. Each copy online offers a different number of plates for each of the four volumes - but our copy seems to match the maximum collation for each variation (so seems complete.) The index is of limited use, as it only lists a proportion of the plates. In addition to the four title vignettes, we have: Europe (1844). 364 pages, 49 plates; Asie (1845). 592 pages, 82 plates; L'Afrique et l'Amérique (1844), 368 pages, 43 plates; l'Océanie (1845) 368 pages… Read More

Wilson's first published Sanskrit translation, the first publication of the Meghadūta in the West
Kālidāsa (c. 4th–5th century CE); Horace Hayman Wilson (1786-1860, trans.).

The Megha Duta, or Cloud Messenger, a poem, in the Sanscrit language.

Calcutta printed: London reprinted, Black, Parry, and Co., 1814.

8°. XXII, 23-175 pp. Later half calf, marbled sides.First English translation of the Meghadūta, the most renowned text by India's greatest ancient poet. This famous Sanskrit love poem became popular in Europe in the early 19th century, chiefly because of the present translation by Horace Wilson. Written in the 4th-5th century by the Classical Sanskrit author Kālidāsa, it tells the story of a lover who sends his message to his beloved by a cloud. The present edition includes Wilson's commentaries on his translation of the ancient poem.
Translator Horace Wilson was the first professor of Sanskrit at Oxford. He made his name through his many translations of ancient Sanskrit texts. For… Read More

(4), CXLIV, 474, (2) pages with numerous woodcut head- and tail-pieces, 4 engraved plates (redrawn from those presented in the Chinese editions of the 'Book of Documents' as De Guignes found them in the Royal Library). Contemporary half calf over brown and yellow tree root marbled paper boards, flat spine richly gilt. Green gilt morocco label. Marbled edges. 4to (265 x 200 mm). Cordier BS 1376-77. Lust 727. Walravens, China illustrata 136. Löwendahl 551. First published translation of the 'Book of Documents' (Shu-ching), and also the first of the 'Five Classics' on Confucianism to be translated into an European language. The basis for the translation was a manuscript which had been sent from Peking by Antoine Gaubil (1689-1759). However de Guignes corrected the translation based on the Chinese original which was found in the Royal Library. He also filled in missing pages and extended it with his own notes. Contains a "Discours préliminaire" including a treatise on the early history of the Chinese… Read More

Mee-seen Loong Fine Art LLC, 2014. As New. Still in publisher's shrink wrap. Photo is of the copy we have at Barbed Wire Books.

London, printed for J. Johnson, 1784, reprinted and published by Sanders Cones and Co., Mission Row Calcutta, 1848.. TITLE CONTINUED: General of ten thousand men in the army of the Mogul Empire, and formerly Commander-in Chief the artillery of Hyder Ali, and of a body of European troops in the service of that Prince. English edition translated from the French. 1848, first published in 1784. Tall 8vo, approximately 240 x 160 mm, 9¾ x 6½ inches, 3 hand coloured portraits and 1 black and white engraving of the Throne of the late Tippoo Sultaun, pages: vi, 1-388, 4 extra pages 253-256 marked with an asterisk, no duplication of text and 4 extra leaves in the Appendix, unnumbered between pages 376 & 377, making a total of 400 pages, bound in full Victorian morocco, gilt lettering and decoration to spine and gilt decoration to covers, marbled endpapers, narrow gilt dentelles, all edges gilt. Binding rubbed and rebacked using original spine, shelf wear to edges of covers, thin black stain to lower cover,… Read More

4° (mm 250x190); pp. XII, 326. Al frontespizio, vignetta incisa raffigurante Ganesha e 32 tavole fuori testo (di cui una a doppia pagina). Nel testo, caratteri in sanscrito. Legatura coeva in piena pelle marezzata. Bell'esemplare.
First edition.
As the title well explains, the Systema Brahmanicum by the Indologist Paulinus of St. Bartholomew - valuable compendium of Brahmanism - is closely based on the collection of Indica reperta from the famous Borgia Museum in Velletri, profusely illustrated by the engravings. The volume, therefore, can be browsed as a kind of 'exegetical catalog' of the Hindu collection.The ancient Borgia Museum in Velletri, formed between the 17th and 18th centuries by the Roman branch of the Borgia family, was greatly enriched and enlarged in the second half of the 18th century by Cardinal Stefano Borgia (1731 – 1804), a man of vast culture who was a scholar of history and ethnology. The Museum, famous throughout Europe for the variety and the rarity of the reperta as well as… Read More

This is a rare, one-of-a-kind, signed and Inscribed limited edition of paintings, artwork and photography by the renowned Hungarian painters Sass Brunner-Farkas and Elizabeth Brunner. Inspired by a mystic dream of Rabinadrath Tagore, the mother and daughter traveled to India, staying for 5 years. They met and painted Tagore, Mahatma Ghandi, along with portraits of Indian deities, landscapes, and common women and men.
Mother and daughter signed and inscribed the FFEP to friends "Mr. and Mrs. Tomanocky" and there is a separate inscription in Hungarian by, I believe, Sass Brunner. Mother and daughter also signed under their photographs opposite the title page and both signed under portrait photographs of themselves at the beginning of the two sections of the book which separate their individual paintings and drawings with a short inscription by Sass, and on a slip of paper with young Elizabeth's portrait and a Christmas and New Year's greeting. Amazingly, there is also a personal, black and white… Read More