Recent Acquisitions
July 9th, 2024
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A note on OCLC
As is now the norm, OCLC counts are tentative, at best, as we recognize that searches using different qualifiers will often turn up different results. Searches are now further complicated by the vast numbers of digital, microfilm, and even print-on-demand copies, which have polluted the database considerably, making it difficult, without numerous phone calls or emails, to determine the actual number of tangible copies. Hence, even though the counts herein have been recently checked, most all should be taken as a measure of approximation.
1. [Atlas.] The Rand-McNally atlas of China containing maps and descriptive matter pertaining to general conditions and the present crisis in The Celestial Empire [cover title]. Chicago: Rand-McNally, 1900.
$250
Folio (approx. 14" x 11"), pp. 16; original green printed wrappers a little chipped and with a repaired tear at the upper right corner; all else very good. Containing 5 double-page color maps and 6 pages of text, with several illustrations.
The "present crisis" referred to in the title is the Boxer Rebellion, 1899-1901.
Only 3 in OCLC: Yale, St. Olaf, and Wisconsin Historical.
2. [Beijing Travel Guide.] Guide to "Peking" 1931 published by "The Leader" [cover title]. Peiping [i.e. Beijing]: The Leader, 1931.
$300
7½" x 5", pp. [2], v, [7], 88, [4] ads; folding map of the city and 23 full-page illustrations from photographs; original tan pictorial wrappers printed in brown and red; spine partially perished but the binding remains sound; very good copy.
With numerous illustrated advertisements, a history of Chinese festivals by Dr. Y. C. Chang, and a festival calendar; list of women's clubs; an account of the universities and educational centers, churches and temples, industries, Chinese foods, shops, theatres, museums, the Imperial City, and an Historical Introduction to Peking by Dr. Y. C. Chang.
3. [Confucius.] Confucius. Jinan: Shandong Publishing Group of China Qilu Press, 2007.
$250
First edition, folio, pp. 215, [5]; color illustrations throughout being largely portraiture of Confucius through the ages; fine copy in original red silk, dust jacket, and a red silk-covered clamshell box stamped in gilt and with a commemorative brass medallion.
4. Adversaria Sinica. No. 2. Shanghai: Messrs. Kelly & Walsh Ltd., 1906.
$150
8vo, pp. [27]-54 (i.e. 28 pages); 4 illustrations, original stiff printed paper wrappers; some soiling and spotting, else very good.
This issue with three essays by Giles, "Art Thou the Christ"; "Echoes of Orpheus" and "The Weak Water," plus a book review of China and Religion by Edward Harper Parker (1905).
Adversaria Sinica "is a collection of essays on a wide range of subjects related to Chinese culture and history. It covers topics such as language, religion, philosophy, and literature, and provides a wealth of insight into the rich tapestry of Chinese society" (Amazon).
5. Adversaria Sinica. No. 6. Shanghai: Messrs. Kelly & Walsh Ltd., 1908.
$150
8vo, pp. [145]-188 (i.e. 44 pages); original stiff printed paper wrappers; some soiling and spotting, else very good.
This issue with four essays by Giles, "Psychic Phenomena in China," "Notes on Books," "Phrenology, Physiognomy, and Palmistry" (with 3 illustrations), and, "Swallowing Gold."
Adversaria Sinica "is a collection of essays on a wide range of subjects related to Chinese culture and history. It covers topics such as language, religion, philosophy, and literature, and provides a wealth of insight into the rich tapestry of Chinese society" (Amazon).
6. Adversaria Sinica. No. 7. Shanghai: Messrs. Kelly & Walsh Ltd., 1909.
$150
8vo, pp. [189]-227 (i.e. 39 pages); original stiff printed paper wrappers; some soiling and spotting, first leaf a bit toned, else very good.
This issue with six essays by Giles, "Japan's Debt to China," "The Chinese Library at Cambridge," "Textual Criticism," "Art Thou Christ?" "The Mariner's Compass," and "The 'Taxicab' in China."
Adversaria Sinica "is a collection of essays on a wide range of subjects related to Chinese culture and history. It covers topics such as language, religion, philosophy, and literature, and provides a wealth of insight into the rich tapestry of Chinese society" (Amazon).
7. Expédition Citroën Centre-Asie. IIIeme mission . [Paris]: [publisher not identified], [ca. 1931].
$250
Oblong 4to, pp. [46]; map and 60 (a number full-page) sepia-tinted photographic illustrations throughout; original black velour wrappers stamped in gilt and red; generally fine, clean, and sound throughout.
A precursor to the account published by Plon in 1933, published in a quarto of 344 pages. This illustrates the expedition in Central Asia organized by Citroën to promote their new vehicles. An interesting photographic account of regions difficult to access including Pamir and the north of Afghanistan.
8. Signed photograph. N.p.: 8-Oct, 1949.
$450
Approx. 6" x 4" (including margins), signed in the bottom margin "Sven Hedin / 8.10.49." On the verso is a 20-line autograph note to "My dear Mrs. Seymour Blumfield." Generally fine.
Hedin thanks Mrs. Blumfield for her letter, and notes that "yes, the world is crazy and cannot be built up again except by the help of Germany. As long as Germany is treated as a colony of black coolies, then there will be no order..."
Hedin was a complicated man and differing viewpoints of him abound. On the one hand he was a superlative explorer, and was liberal in his sharing of the results of his expeditions. On the other hand, "Hedin's conservative and pro-German views eventually translated into sympathy for the Third Reich, and this would draw him into increasing controversy towards the end of his life. Adolf Hitler had been an early admirer of Hedin, who was in turn impressed with Hitler's nationalism. He saw the German leader's rise to power as a revival of German fortunes, and welcomed its challenge against Soviet Communism. He was not an entirely uncritical supporter of the Nazis, however. His own views were shaped by traditionalist, Christian and conservative values, while National Socialism was in part a modern revolutionary-populist movement. Hedin objected to some aspects of National Socialist rule, and occasionally attempted to convince the German government to relent in its anti-religious and anti-Semitic campaigns" (Wikipedia).
9. Mount Everest. The reconnaissance, 1921. London: Edward Arnold & Co., 1922.
$450
First edition, large 8vo, pp. ix, [1], 356; gravure frontispiece, 32 plates and 3 folding maps printed in color at the back, and with errata slip tipped in at p. 350; original blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine; bookplate on verso of front free endpaper, 2 contemporary book reviews on recto of front free endpaper for The Assault on Mount Everest, bookplate of Baron Marcus Rosenkrantz on front pastedown; very good, clean and sound.
Introduction by Sir Francis Younghusband. "Official account of the first Everest Expedition of 1921. They reached the North Col and discovered the route to the top, but unfortunately they lost Dr. A. M. Kellas" (Yakushi).
Neate H-120; Yakushi H433a.
10. The currencies of China. An investigation of gold & silver transactions affecting China. With a section on copper ... Foreword by Julean Arnold. Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, 1926.
$650
First edition, 8vo, pp. xviii, [2], 540, [xix]-xlviii; color frontispiece and 5 illustrations on rectos and versos of 3 plates and a folding table; original blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine; spine with a few spots and the prelims and terminals a bit spotted; in the uncommon dust jacket with back panel separated (but present), nicks, short tears, some minor loss; a very good copy in a good jacket.
11. Manju gisun tacibure bithe = Linguae mandshuricae institutiones quas conscripsit, indicibus ornavit chrestomathia et vocabulario. Ratisbonae [i.e. Regensburg]: sumptus fecit G. Josephus Manz, 1856.
$1,250
First edition, 8vo, pp. viii, 152; printed in Latin and Manchu script; contemporary quarter road over marbled boards, top inch of spine chipped away, 3 old church rubberstamps on title page, and old bookplate on front pastedown; all else very good and sound.
Manchu grammar and reader, with a 12-page Manchu vocabulary at the back. Kaulen (1827-1907) was a German Catholic Biblical scholar. This is, apparently, his first book.
OCLC locates 19 copies worldwide, only Columbia, NY Public, Yale, Northwestern, Chicago, UW, and Penn in the U.S.
12. Peiping and North China. Information and illustrations of the important places to see ... Illustrated by Bertha Lum. Peiping [i.e. Beijing]: presented with the compliments of the Grand Hotel des Wagons Lits, n.d., [ca. 1930s].
$250
Saddle-stitched pamphlet 7½" x 5¼", pp. 88; 12 full-page illustrations by Bertha Lum, map, 26 pages of advertisements (many illustrated), and summaries of the Western Hills, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace and Jade Fountain, plus recommended, temples, shops, and restaurants to visit.
OCLC locates 4 copies: Cornell, Chicago, Harvard, and Portland State in Oregon. OCLC also locates a presumably earlier edition with 57 pages (at N.Y. Public, USC, and University of Hong Kong).
13. [Mount Everest.] One-page autograph letter signed to 'Lara Ann'. N.p.: 1-Nov, 1977.
$450
Approx. 9" x 7", in ink, on "First Ascent of Everest - 25th Anniversary" stationery; previous folds, else fine.
"I understand from your father that he is making a collection of interesting objects from historic events and people who are - or have been - in the public eye. I hope you will accept the small token which I enclose..." The token is a Soviet Union badge of a mountaineer which Hunt details here.
Hunt, of course, was the leader of the first successful 1953 British expedition to climb Mount Everest. He was the author of The Ascent of Everest (1953), published in America as The Conquest of Everest.
14. The history of the British Empire in India and the East from the earliest times to the suppression of the Sepot Mutiny in 1859. London: James S. Virtue, n.d., [ca. early 1860s].
$650
2 volumes in 8 volumes, large 8vo, pp. 804; 774 (with the preliminaries bound in at the back of the last volume); 2 engraved title pages, 8 double-page maps (mostly colored); 64 fine engraved portraits and plates (many by T. Allom); original red cloth stamped in gilt on upper covers and spines; a very good, sound, and clean set. Complete.
15. Sketches from Nipal, historical and descriptive, with anecdotes of the court life and wild sports of the country in the time of Maharaja Jang Bahadur, G.C.B. to which is added an essay on Nipalese Buddhism and illus. of religious monuments, architecture, and scenery, from the author's own drawings. London: W. H. Allen, 1880.
$2,000
First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. viii, 418, [2] ads; [4], 364, 44 (ads), [4] ads; 18 plates (6 chromolithographs) including 2 chromolithograph frontispieces; original green cloth stamped in gilt and black; evidence of something removed from the upper covers (not offensive), some chaffing along the lower joint of volume II; all else very good, clean and reasonably sound.
"Geographical and historical description of Nepal, with notes on Buddhism, festivals, and etc. Dr. Oldfield first went to Kathmandu in 1850 as Residency surgeon, serving in this post untill 1863." Oldfield spent over thirty years in India, principally in Nepal. There are few books of this period on the area, and virtually none written with such authority and covering every aspect of the private life, political relations, sport and religion of the country.
Czech (Asia) pp.153-4; Yakushi O36.
16. Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar (formerly Chinese Tartary), and return journey Over the Karakoram Pass. London: John Murray, 1871.
$675
First edition, 8vo, pp. [2], v-xv, [1], 486, [2] ads, 24 (ads); tinted lithographic frontispiece, wood-engraved vignette title page, 2 folding maps, 3 wood-engraved plates, 3 tinted lithographic plates, plus other illustrations in the text; bookplate of the Pacific School of Religion (marked withdrawn), with their stamp on title page (also marked withdrawn), pocket on lower pastedown; library treatments aside, a very good, sound, and clean copy. Ownership signature at the top of the title page of G. C. Nevin, Canton.
"The author travelled from Yarkand and Kashgar, and returned to Leh through the Karakoram and Sasir Passes in 1868-69. In 1870, he accompanied ... Forsyth's first Kashgar Mission; thence he stayed at Leh in 1871 as British Joint Commissioner, and he died there in 1879" (Yakushi).
Yakushi S401.
17. The temples of Anking and their cults. A study of modern Chinese religion. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1931.
$85
First edition, small 4to, pp. [4], 206; numerous illustrations on 22 plates; fine copy in original cream wrappers printed in red and black.
Contents include: The Temples of Anking; Ancestral Temples; Temples to Great Men; The State Temples; Buddhist Temples; Taoist Temples; and, Individual Cults. Anking sits on the Yangtze River about 500 km above Shanghai.
18. [Stereographs - Asia.] A collection of approximately 450 stereographs on Asian subjects. Various places: publishers as below, ca. 1900-1915.
$1,250
Stereographs consist of two nearly identical photographs or photomechanical prints, mounted on heavy card stock, and paired to produce the illusion of a single three-dimensional image, when viewed through a stereoscope. Such a stereoscope is included here. Many of them were published with caption information printed under the image or on the back of the mount. Condition varies, but on the whole these are in very good to fine condition.
The views (by country) are as follows. Some are printed in color (and are so identified), others are original photographs and mostly black & white:
Burma (10): Keystone View Co. (4) and Underwood & Underwood (6);
China & Manchuria (115): Keystone View Co. (17), Underwood & Underwood (13), Geo. W. Griffith (1), Stereo Travel Co. (1), Universal Photo Art Co. (1), (32) others, all but one printed in color; plus a complete run from nos. 101 - 200 on "Siege of Port Arthur," all printed in color;
India & Ceylon (40): Keystone View Co. 12), Underwood & Underwood (22), plus 6 others printed (4 in color);
Japan (208): Keystone View Co. (36), Underwood & Underwood (3), Universal Photo Art Co. (1), J.J. Killelea (1), B. L. Singley (1), Strohmeyer & Wyman (1), American Stereoscopic Co. (2), B.W. Kilburn (1), Stereo Travel Co. (1), Geo. W. Griffith (1), and (62) others printed, 58 in color; plus another (50) in a publisher's box (?), captioned but unidentified as to publisher, all in color, plus another (48) identified only as the Japan-Russia Series, all but 15 on Japan;
Java (7): Keystone View Co0. (2), Universal Photo Art Co. (3); Little Chronicle Publishing Co. (1), T.W. Ingersoll (1) in color;
Korea (5): Keystone View Co.;
Philippine Islands (15): Keystone View Co. (6); Strohmeyer & Wyman (2), B. W. Kilburn (1), Underwood & Underwood (1), Cooperative View Co. (1), and (4) printed in color;
Siam (2): Keystone View Co. and one other printed in color.
19. Basic terminology: English, Vietnamese, Jarai, Rhade, Bahnar. Prepared by S-5 Section, Company B, 5th Special Forces Group (ABN). APO US Forces 96318: November, 1967.
$425
Folio, pp. [4], 42, 42A-61; printed from typescript; numerous vignette illustrations from drawings; side-stapled; fine.
"Based on a text prepared by the Education Branch Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, U.S. Army, Pacific, July 1962. Design, illustration and translation by Mr. Ksor B. Tony / Mr. Nguyen-Chi-Cat."
This volume was produced in the field by the U. S. Green Berets when working with the Montagnards in the Central Highlands of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The volume not only covers Vietnamese, but also the Central Highland languages of Jarai, Rhade, and Bahnar. This copy was acquired from a Green Beret doctor by Greg Gamradt, Books on the Orient, and himself a Vietnam veteran, now deceased.
20. Tibetan painted scrolls. Roma: Libreria Dello Stato, 1949.
$3,500
Edition limited to 750 copies (this, no. 492) on Umbrian paper, printed in the Art Printing Office of the Instituto Poligrafico dello Stato; 3 volumes, folio, comprising 2 text volumes, pp. xv, [1], 327, [2]; [iii]-viii, [2], 331-798, [1]; and a portfolio with 25 lettered color collotype plates and 231 monochrome "phototype" plates, neatly sewn together with string through 3 small punchholes in left margins, as issued, together with the title/limitation leaves; original terracotta cloth stamped in gilt, t.e.g., others uncut; extremities of the portfolio a little faded, else this is a fine set.
Important and handsomely produced work notable for the series of plates illustrating the 195 thangkas, illuminated manuscripts and bookcovers obtained by Tucci during his seven expeditions to Tibet between 1933 and 1947. Guiseppe Tucci (1894-1984) was an Italian Orientalist, Indologist and scholar of East Asian studies, specializing in Tibetan culture and history of Buddhism. Fluent in several European languages, Sanskrit, Bengali, Pali, Prakrit, Chinese and Tibetan, he is considered one of the founders of the field of Buddhist Studies. He was also a supporter of Italian Fascism, and he used idealized portrayals of Asian traditions to support Italian ideological campaigns.
21. Sikhim & Bhutan. Twenty-one years on the north-east frontier 1887-1908. London: Edward Arnold, 1909.
$750
First edition, large 8vo, pp. xix, [1], 331, [1]; gravure frontispiece portrait, 40 plates (including 6 photogravures), and a folding map printed in color; original pictorial green cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine, t.e.g.; front hinge with neat repair, inoffensive stain on the lower cover; generally a very good, sound, and clean copy.
"In 1887 the author visited Sikkim for the first time, and joined the expeditionary force of the Sikkim-Nepal War in 1888 as Assistant Political Officer and then he stayed in Sikkim as the first Political Officer for twenty years. He entered Talung glacier in 1890, and Lhonak in 1891. When he visited Lhonak again as a member of the Sikkim-Tibet Boundary Commission in 1902, he explored there fully. In 1903-04 he accompanied the Younghusband Mission to Lhasa. Moreover, he visited Bhutan as a government delegate in 1905 and 1907, and explored eastern Bhutan in 1905" (Yakushi).
Yakushi W134.