SPL Hand Coloured Rare Book Collection Featuring Norman R Bobins

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SILVER, Jacob Mortimer Wier.
Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs.

Silver was a Lieutenant in the Royal Marines who spent a good deal of time in Japan. The text in twelve brief chapters comments on a wide range of subjects, from religious festivals, games, pastimes, and domestic life to the Imperial and Shogunal systems, criminal justice, and he Takaido. It also touches on Japanese characteristics.

Published
London: Day and Son Ltd., 1867.
References
Lipperheide 1562; Bobins 306; not in Abbey Travel; Colas 2743.
Plates
28
Binding/Size
M=4to
Value
0-5000
Published
London: Day and Son Ltd., 1867.
Ref
5056

Quarto; chromolithographed title, 51pp, 18 woodcut vignettes set in text, 27 chromolithographed plates after traditional drawings by a local Japanese artist. Contemporary half calf in gilt rule over brown cloth boards, spine in decorative gilded compartments. Black title label to spine, all edges gilt, the bookplate of 'William E. Stuart' to front pastedown. Good condition. The traditional Japanese drawings in this work are charming. Coloured plates in order: 1. Title page. 2. Festival in Honour of the Birth of Children. 3. Merchant's Great Festival. 4. Otinta Sama. 5. A Fire Brigade on its way to a Fire. 6. A Japanese Wedding. 7. A Daimio paying a State Visit. 8. A Daimio and family witnessing Fireworks. 9. A Minister of the Mikado on a religious expedition. 10. Theatrical performance in front of the Mikado's Palace. 11. Ladies of the Mikado's Court performing the Butterfly Dance. 12. The Tycoon's Messengers reading the sentence. 13. The Sacrifice. 14. A Daimio's Funeral. 15. Cremation of the Body. 16. Relatives collecting Ashes. 17. Public Wrestling in the Great Amphitheatre at Yedo. 18. Interior of a Theatre. 19. Mode of conducting a Criminal to execution. 20. Lonins, or Outlaws robbing a wealthy merchant's house. 21. Exposure for Infidelity. 22. Selling Indulgences by Public Auction. 23. Praying for a Soul out of Purgatory. 24. Sudangee, or Last Offices. 25. A Bakers Shop. 26. A Tea House Merry-Making. 27. Uya, or Bath House. 28. A Flower Show.